Time Shifter
by Luna Tiger
Summary: When a vortex opens up in 20XX and sucks in five robots we all know and love into 21XX, it's up to the Hunters and bioroids to-- Darnit, this story is discontinued! Go read its revision! TvvT Rar!
1. Chapter 01

  
  
All characters belong to Capcom. Asaki Kai and that shadow belong to me. I'm not making money off of this. It's for entertainment only. Dedicated to the few who know me and are *not* disgusted with the male/male inserts. Now, have yourself a nice day. ^^ 

* * *

**Chapter 1**

  
  
The year: 21XX. 

The period: after the fourth Maverick war. 

Time was slowly ticking away for the beginning of the end. 

The beginning where hope would fall from the sky on broken wings, archangels pulled from heaven to aid the war-crested mortals. Such creatures never saw a war they couldn't fathom and this one was too deep in blood and sorrow to grasp the hold on it... and they learned the true meaning of fear and warfare; it was nothing like the petty squabbles they conjured up day after day. 

The end was where their wings grew back and were allowed back into heaven, away from the wails of tears and the ferocious demons that crawled from the pit of hell. Away from the men who's mortal medicine could not cure a diseased companion. Back to God, who could cure all. 

A mere man had brought them down, investing in the sorcery that pulled those angels down by unbreakable chains. He is no Lucifer though, only a pawn, while the true Lucifer sends out his minions to keep the creature who represents his decoy in line. 

And the Devil's Cause has happened. Hell on Earth has lasted for 39 years and the point of the 40th's tip is approaching fast.... 

* * *

"Dr. Asaki?" 

The question rumbled through the hummed silence and ricocheted off the shadows. The mentioned name resulted in the only organic component in the room to stop his programming and swing the chair around to face the darkness all about him. "Hai, kage?" 

"The anti-matter has been properly installed like you wanted." 

"Excellent. I want you to monitor the entrances and make sure we are not discovered so soon by either the Mavericks or the Hunters." 

"Yes sir." And the voice exited the room, leaving Asaki Kai to finished his interrupted coded sequence. 

* * *

"C'mon Yakasa! Don't you dare tell me you can't climb the rest of the way!" 

Zero's voice echoed from above and X took his gaze off of the rocky wall to look up at his best friend. Dr. Cain had advised some time off for the two Hunters, hopefully a weekend. And so far, two days into the five they had, they haven't been signaled to return because of a Maverick crisis. 

The pair were spending this vacation in the woods off the boundaries of some reservation. Zero was practically giddy over the ideas he had planned (and X got nervous when Zero wouldn't mention most of them until it was too late), which was very out of character from a guy who slaughters Mavericks like a paper shredder slices through it's confidential prey. 

And now, rock climbing was an idea that had the Crimson Hunter getting adrenaline rushes just thinking about it. He was already at the top, patiently waiting like a kid bouncing around waiting for Mom to catch up. X was only about fifteen feet from the top, and somehow, Zero's ranting made him feel slightly ridiculous. Here he was, climbing a wall of rock, which he was having a small problem with. Maybe it was because the ground was a good hundred feet below him. Or maybe it was because every other time he had climbed a wall, at times with no grips, he had been donned in armor. "I can climb just fine Zero. All that excitement is disorting your mind into thinking that I'm going slower than a sloth. I'm just taking my time. ...And if you think that taunting me is gonna get me to go any faster, you've got another thing coming to you." 

Zero's smile was a charming one, a mischievous gleam tinting his perplexing ultramarine eyes. "Is that a proposition?" 

The smile made Yakasa melt, and the mischief made him wince. The combination? Seduction... and god damn it, it always worked. "Hentai," he grumbled, knitting his eyebrows together. He had to concentrate on his objective, not his sex crazed lover. But Zero was definitely making things difficult. 

* * *

**In the past..**

"Don't you ever die?!" 

Rock narrowly dodged a shot to the head, falling to the morning dew-covered grass. The blast hit the ground hardly 20 feet away, kicking up a healthy amount of dirt and smoke. The little blue robot covered his helmet with his hands, mainly out of reflex. When the sound and UFCs settled some, Rock's arms fell to the ground and looked skywards, only to see a heartbreaking sight. Forte was pointing his cannon right at him, a pure look of controlled malice sketched in his lavender eyes. 

_Why Bass, why? Why must you continue to fight me?_ Rock gave up his hopes then, and closed his eyes, waiting for that fatal blow that would finally end his silent misery. 

That blow never came. Instead, a loud clank sounded, followed by a thud after a moment's pause. Swift, light footsteps came his way, stopping beside him. "Rock, you can't just lay there like a man heading for his execution. I will not involve myself directly with your cause, but I'm going to have to because if you don't get your act together, you're going to loose your chance forever, from the simple fact that you. Will. Be. Dead!" 

A curse was heard in the distance. Forte groggily stood up, whistling sharply to recall Gospel from his mission to keep Rush away from his partner. After the lupinoid obediantly responded to his master's order, Forte looked over to the bioroids and shouted, "You will pay for interfering with destiny, old man!" 

And with that, both him and the wolf teleported back to Skull Castle, the beams of black and purple streaking the sky. 

Blues narrowed his eyes at the now barren spot, scowling. _Damn you, Forte. Just... damn you!_ Turning away, the maroon and grey robot flipped his younger brother over, frowning at the crying face he discovered. Easing his arms under the boy, Blues gently lifted Rock against him. It was then Rock opened his eyes again, emeralds capturing sadness, depression, and hurt within their crystal shell. 

"Rokku... you need to tell me what wrong." 

"Betsuni..." 

Blues let out a sigh, the answer not convincing him in the least. "Rock, I know you love him. Don't tell me 'nothing' after he nearly killed you." 

The tears hung in his eyes for a second, staring at first. But then, he remembered that his older brother practically knew everything that went on and the glistening water again rolled down his cheeks. "Gomen, Oniisan, but.....I can't do this, Buruusu. I just can't do this any more." 

There was a silent pause, as Blues chose his words carefully. "What do you truly want?" 

"I want him back..." It was meek whisper, full of despair. "I.. I can't live like this. Every day, I have to go on like it never bothers me that I have to face him in that manner. My heart is tearing apart at the sight of those eyes wishing for my death." 

It was then Rush decided to return, walking only on three legs. The fourth was his left hind leg tucked under his body, which was sparking from a broken electrical wire. Obviously damaged in the dog fight with Gospel. 

He sat down before them, whining with worry at the expression his master wore. Rockman turned his head to see his red puppy and gave a small smile. "I'll be okay, boy. Don't worry about me." 

Obviously, Rush was worried, but took this time to be light hearted and barked with a high pitch, signalling his mood. 

Blues stood up, Rock still in his arms, and put the blue bomber back on his feet. Watching him soulfully from behind the opaque visor, the grey bot cupped Rock's chin, angling it upwards. "You do realize, Rokku, that if Light ever finds out your feelings, he will reprogram you and erase those memories for the 'good of mankind.'" 

"I know... that's why I'm determined never to let him know. It hurts to see him like this, but I won't give up the pain to save myself and destroy him. He's too important. My sanity is too, though." He shook his head mournfully and whispered brokenly, "I just don't know anymore....." 

It was the last thing Rock except when his brother's arms wrapped around him in a comforting hold; the Blue Bomber had to fight to keep the tint out of his cheeks. He returned the hug, burying his face into the crook of Blues' neck. In the past, it would've been the ultimate heaven to reach being this close to his former crush, but the feeling had dwindled and he was suddenly glad it had. 

"We need you. I need you. You need Forte. I promise, Otoutochan, if it was meant to be, then it shall happen in the future. ....And I swear on my life that it was meant to be." 

"Hai... hai." 

* * *

**In the present...**

"Do you know how long that took you? If I had a grandmother, I'm sure she would've climbed faster than you." Zero was grinning for all he was worth, and it didn't help X at all that he was trapped underneath the Crimson Hunter's weight. Yakasa had flopped onto the rocky cliff ledge the instant he had reached the top. And all Zero did was take advantage of the position. 

"Maybe I'm just not as anxious as you about whatever idea you're currently dragging me to," breathed X, panting from the exertion in the climb. _God, am I out of shape?_

"Hn." Zero laid a brief kiss on the neo Blue Bomber's forehead. "You never like my ideas." 

An eyebrow rose and X locked onto Zero's eyes, emerald looking into deep ultramarine. "I never end up liking you're ideas because you never let me in on them." 

Zero cocked his head, smirking. "You always wanna know more about a situation. It may be better to *not* know anything about a situation." 

"And I wonder why you say that, Mr. I'm-too-cocky-for-my-armor." 

Zero burst out laughing, putting his head on X's chest. It wouldn't have been all that funny if X had not sing-songed it to the tune of 'I'm Too Sexy.' "Oh man! That is too scary, koibito. You hardly ever do, let alone say, something like that." 

"Feh. If it scared you, then why are you laughing your ass off?" 

"Because it was so kawaii!" And he focused his body on trying to calm himself out of the fit, throwing few-second laughs here and there. X looked from his lover to the sky as a large bird flew overhead soundlessly, looping around and disappearing behind the cliff face. He closed his eyes, picturing that avian perfectly. A raptor bird it had been. A raptor, just like Zero... and not. 

Zero portrayed what every warrior wanted to be: undiscouraged by the death of an enemy, bystander, or associate alike, calm, cool, and damn good looking. It was all a mask though, hidden behind the pretty face and even prettier eyes he was blessed with. Zero wasn't all those things in private. The deaths of the enemy didn't mess with his mind, but all the others did. Many faceless people have died because of him, whether he meant to or not. And ones with faces haunted his dreams. The lifeless windows to their minds had been wide open when he passed, and Zero had purposly burdened himself with the responsibility of living with it. And every night, when the Crimson Hunter was alone, he cried. 

But even one with remorse for the blood on his hands, the red reploid wasn't without any humor. Just another facade to coverup the softer (and more human) side he still, thankfully, had. 

X had been there for him after Iris died and all the other times he needed to be comforted.. and well as vice versa. What were friends for anyway? 

"Did you die on me?" 

"Ehhh..." X fluttered his eyes open, a little confused by the interuption of his thoughts, but propped himself up on his elbows. 

Zero was still smiling; Yakasa truly wondered if he ever stopped when he was able to persuade the leader of the 17th unit into his crazy schemes. "Guess not... All the better." 

It was then X realized how far south one of his friend's hands had strayed to. It rested contently on his abdomen and X had to raised an eyebrow. "All the better, huh. To be frank, this trip up the mountain is going to kill me if you don't tell me exactly why we're climbing it." 

"Secret." And he gave his lover a quick kiss before standing and preparing for the next and final scale of the cliff face. "Now c'mon! If you don't hurry up, it would have been all for nothing and we have to do it all over again tomorrow!" 

Yakasa let out a weary groan and fell back onto his back. After a short minute, he picked himself up, dusted as much dirt off as his could, and glared at the rock-based wall. He made a promise that there was no way in hell he'd ever touch this cliff again after this. 

* * *

Hands slid roughly over bare skin, dragging out strained moans on every pass. Lips met straving lips, both trying to devour the other with a firey passion. 

"Why?..." came the breathless question when they broke for air. 

"Why what?" was the simple response before trying to reclaim the mouth that insisted on talking; he didn't want to talk right now. 

But the other wouldn't have it. He pushed his partner's head against the wall and crooned, "Why must we... keep doing this. You kept your silly promise." 

"Baka," the walled one hissed, baring his teeth in a threatening manner. "I made an even deeper promise and it will not be kept until /he/ is destroyed forever." 

"But then what of us? I want to be with you, dammit! Not running around, lurking in the shadows, stealing kisses and gropes!" He wet his lips. "I want to be inside you. It's been so long..." 

His mate purred. "I know, I know. I want it too. Kami knows how much I want you to fuck me, for me to fuck you. Dirty pillow talk, bondage, food sex. Shit, you have noooo idea how badly I want it." 

A guttural growl errupted from his throat. "That's it. No more talking." 

"Hey you star--" but those bruised lips were silenced as he did his best to make that body against him sing in the short time they had together. 

* * *

^_@ Maybe I should have commented about the limes thrown around for good measure. 


	2. Chapter 02

  
  
All characters belong to Capcom. Asaki Kai, that shadow, Durgus, and Toriyama Hadeka belong to me. I'm not making money off of this. It's for entertainment only. Dedicated to the few who know me and are *not* disgusted with the male/male inserts. Now, have yourself a nice day. ^^ 

* * *

**Chapter 2**

  
  
"Begin the countdown." 

"Yes doctor." 

"5....

"4....

"3....

"2....

"1....

"Initiating rift creation." 

The giant machine dully shrilled to life, illuminating the room with it's own activated power source. An orb in the center of the monsterous electronic glowed with the flow of power running into it. "Enter time." 

Dr. Asaki imputted the date to when he wanted the rift to occur and hit the 'enter' button. 

"Scanning..... Year is 2087, month is June, day is the 3rd, time is 14:25:00. Enter destination." 

Asaki entered the place and sat back, waiting patiently for the greatest accomplishment of mankind to be conceived. 

"Scanning..... Hemisphere is the north/east, country is Japan, area of west Kyoto. Spanning into current time: March 17th, 2168, 12:52:42. Location: Tokyo, Japan." 

* * *

**In the past..**

"Sir, we have an unknown property just sitting there in the fields west of Kyoto city." 

Captain Toriyama Hadeka looked over his assistant's shoulder and eyed the screen. The radar was picked up an unusual energy disturbance. One eyebrow rose in thought. "Contact Dr. Light and see if he's looking at it as well." 

* * *

"Yes, Toriyama-san. My radar has picked it up as well." Dr. Thomas Light stood infront of the monitor, Rockman and Roll standing behind him silently. 

"What do you make of it?" 

Light reached over to tap a few keys on his console, looking at the sensory input. "Its energy mass is low grade, but the power it's emitting is nearly that of several nuclear power plants altogether. It had a diameter of ten feet and seems stable." He looked back up at the large telecommunicator. "The only safe option I have to offer is to send a probe to investigate its purposes." 

Rock bowed his head and watched the radar. Two more smaller dots caught his attention as both move quickly towards the object-in-question. "Light-san! I think Wily sent out one of his robots to go see what this thing is!" 

The doctor turned back to the black and green circular screen and stared. "I believe you're right, Rock. It seems that he sent out--" 

_You don't need to tell me. I know who it is.._ "Rush Jet!" 

As Rush's electronics obeyed the command, Light looked over his shoulder, a little startled. "Rock, be careful! We don't know what we're dealing with!" 

Rockman leaped onto Rush's back. "Don't worry. I'll be careful." And they were gone through the opening above. 

With a sigh, Thomas turned back to the screens. "Hadeka, hold the probe for later. Maybe Megaman will find out something." 

Captain Toriyama saluted. "Will do, Dr. Light." 

The monitor went blank and Light stared at the radar. One blip was already there, the second closing in on it, and the third, just appearing on the screen, was quickly trying to gain some distance. Roll put both of her hands on the doctor's shoulders and watched the screen over his shoulder. "Dr. Light? If this one is Rock and, judging by the speed, this one is Forte, the third one is Blues, right?" 

"I'm pretty sure it is.. but right now, I'm more worried about Bass. Wily dispatched him practically imediately. Maybe he knows something we don't.." 

* * *

**In the present..**

"Dr. Cain! There are five unidentified energy surges above the city." 

Dr. Jeremy Cain leaned over the short hunter and adjusted his glasses. "Durgus, can you bring up its stats?" 

The small brown and black reploid typed in a few commands and stated, "We should have them printed out in a few minutes--- Oh my god." 

"Nani?" 

"Something is falling from each of them. All have re-enforced titanium outer shells." 

Cain's eyebrows knit and he pointed to the screen. "Send retrieval units to those areas and see what you can pick up. I want these disturbances investigated imediately!" 

* * *

"Now... wasn't spending a little time up here worth all that trouble?" 

"... Yes.. it's very worth it." 

Zero smiled and held his shorter lover against him. The view overlooking the valley was just too flawless to pass up. The Crimson Hunter knew Yakasa loved nature; it was pure, clean, and a very uplifting experience when you're used to buildings surrounding your space of life. The surprise was worth it, as X had said, and Zero knew this was one 'idea' the blue armored prodigy fully approved of. "Good..." 

"Just don't think that because this plan was a decent one that I'm willing to trust the rest of them." X chuckled quietly and laid his head back, watching as a falcon took to the sky by way of wind currents. ... But where was that beeping coming from? 

Zero spat out a few curses before answering his telecommunicator. "What is it," he replied flatly. 

Dr. Cain's face appeared on the tiny screen, paler than normal. "I need you and X to return imediately back to Maverick Hunter Headquarters. It's rather important." 

"I thought you said no one would be yanking us out of our time? It obviously is not related to us--" 

"It is!" Zero blinked. Cain never raised his voice.. "It is directly related to you, now would you please return?! I promise you, you both will be able to get back to your vacation, but right now, I need you, X most of all.. Please." 

Zero blinked again and trained his gaze to Yakasa, who had the same dumbfounded expression on his face that he did. It would've been amusing.. if it had been under different circumstances. X took the wrist-bound device, wrist and all, towards him and said, "We'll be there in a couple of hours. X and Zero out." 

The screen went blank and Zero groaned, falling onto his back. "God damn it..." 

"C'mon, love... Let's climb back down before Cain has a panic attack over whatever has him spooked." 

"Feh. Fine.." 

* * *

"Okay," huffed the red clad reploid, "what could be so important to pull us away from fresh air and the hills." He ignored the elbow in the gut he received. 

Dr. Cain motioned for them to follow, still as pale as when he had first contacted them. 

X had his helmet at his side, finding it not necessary to wear it inside the building. He ignored Zero's grumpy mood and acidic rambles and thought of what could have scared the doctor so much to pull them back. As they walked, the Blue Bomber started feeling a bit uncomfortable as they neared their destination: the medical laboratory. 

Inside the doors, the feeling turned painful, but X contained its presense. Cain led them to a curtained area, in which make the pain acute and teetering dangerously on the border of tolerable and not. 

The white, stainless cover was pulled aside by metal rings... and Yakasa just froze. On the table behind those sheets was a robot, resting angelically on the lab table. The armor was an azure blue, matching his own in some spots, the built itself low class compared to the current standards. And the face.. it was almost like looking in a mirror, only this one's feature were more childlike and softer. At that moment, the pain seared ferociously, started with his chest cavity, and tackling his senses. 

His knees buckled and X staggered, fightly gravity. He didn't notice the head piece clatter to the ground or the stong arms that encircled his midriff, which only caused more pain. He seethed, but not in anger. One green eye was kept open, staring at the metal table. And out of his lips came the inaudible word, "Rockman..." And then, blackness came. 


	3. Chapter 03

  
  
All characters belong to Capcom. Asaki Kai belongs to me. I'm not making money off of this. It's for entertainment only. Dedicated to the few who know me and are *not* disgusted with the male/male inserts. Now, have yourself a nice day. ^^ 

* * *

**Chapter 3**

  
  
When X came to, it was about fifteen minutes later. Within that time, Cain nearly suffered a heart attack, damage in money signs came to about $152,000, and there were several dents in the wall, fist size. It's cause was currently seething against the opposite wall of the dented one, eyes closed, arms folded. 

Yakasa's imediate response to being revived into conscious was to grab his head with both hands and twist to his side, bringing his knees closer to his chest. _I feel like I'm gonna throw up.._

The next thing he clearly remembered was trying to spit out the rest of the acidic fluid from a mechanical stomach into a bin that some human was holding and someone was patting his back. _That's gotta be Zero.._

"Hey X, you done with the blowing chunks thing yet?" 

_Yup, it's him._ "Probably not, but that's, at the least, my whole lunch." He heaved dryly and groaned, letting his head go limp and closing his eyes. "So that's what it's like to be car sick." 

Zero chuckled quietly and crouched down to eyelevel. "Yeah, well... just before you blew, that robot woke up and beat you to it." 

"What robot?.." 

"The one you fainted at the sight of." 

X just stared blankly, until he remembered the solid image before his world turned inside out. He groaned again and Zero helped him up right. _I.. I think... I think I know him._ "Where is he?" 

Zero pointed to behind the curtain, where quiet talking was barely heard. X winced as he slid off the table, his legs not cooperating to their full capacity. The blonde reploid held onto him by the waist and smiled when Yakasa looked up at him, who smiled weakly back. 

On the other side of the sheet, Dr. Cain was speaking to the small robot with the patience of a psychologist, the latter sitting on the table he woke up on, knees drawn tightly against his chest. "Okay.. Rock.. let's try this again. Who is your creator." 

"Dr. Thomas Light," came the quiet answer. 

Cain blinked, suspecting a malfunction in a memory chip somewhere. "Listen, you do realize I'm having a hard time believing you're the real Rockman from roughly 60 years ago, right?" 

"If you weren't, you wouldn't keep repeating the same questions..." 

"Just to making sure you got that straight." He inhaled, writing something down on a clip board. "Alright, if you are really him, who was your historical counterpart." 

"Opposite or companion?..." 

Whatever Cain had been writing stopped in mid sentence as he looked back up at the blue robot. _That was the trick part to this question.._ "Companion." 

"My dog, Rush." 

"And your opposites?" 

"Forte, a Wily bot, and his lupinoid, Gospel." 

"And your siblings in mindset?" 

"My brother is DRN 000, Blues. Created two years before myself by both Wily and Light. My sister is DRN 002, Roll, activated a few months after my own activation." 

Cain's jaw set, not positive his ears were working right, but, he wrote it down anyway. "Recall what the fourth war was like." 

"......" Rock sighed and shook his head. There was no end; nothing he said would make this man happy. But, as he prepared to recite the events of Cain's prefered request, another voice caught him with his mouth open. 

"I knew it." 

The robot snapped his jaw closed came up as Cain spun around at the new addition to the conversation. X stood right next to the edge of the curtain, Zero still supporting him. "Sir, this *is* him. I'm 100 percent sure it is." 

The doctor/archaeologist started, but the future Blue Bomber cut him off. "Ask him all those questions if you like, but anyone who studied the Wily Wars knows those figures and names. I can give you the proof." 

Cain drew his eyebrows together, not convinced by X either. "Yakasa, there is no proof. Someone could have programmed him with all this information and then dropped him from the sky. Just because your bio-signature fluxed--" 

"It didn't just flux, Cain-san.." 

Zero, as well as a stray scientist nearly by blinked at X. Bio-signatures were the finger prints of reploids; no frequency and sequence were exactly alike. The technique was created by, who else, but Dr. Light and Dr. Wily, when they were determined to keep the prototype of their bioroid design from being copied. Since then, most robots were required to have one and reploids demanded to have them. They couldn't be copied or reproduced. 

Fluxing bio-signatures weren't too uncommon, they just didn't happen often. Normally, it was due to distinct radio waves interfering with the signature's modem. 

"Then what was it, X?" 

"......It was bio-alignment." 

Pretaining back to the fact that bio-signature's couldn't be reproduced, bio-alignment was down right impossible. The term was coined to the theory of two exact signatures coming into contact with each other. They would pulse and flux wildly, in a desperate dance to catch each other in sync. There were theories about that theory as well. That the two machines in sync would be able to locate each other easily or that the two machines could fuse in some way to become one. No one knew. No one ever would either. Zero would make sure to take measures. No bloody technologist was going to dissect *his* angel... 

"...!!!!" 

The Hunter nodded. "I can feel it." And he looked at his younger (or older, if we're getting technical) counterpart and cast him a rueful smile. "Can't you... Rock?" The little bioroid didn't answer. All he did was stare at X with wide, saucerpan sized eyes, the situation finally sinking in. He had been a drone answering to Dr. Cain, dulled and diluted senses keeping his conscious from fully grasping what was going on. It had been like a distant dream, but now, it was very real. 

_"Listen, you do realize I'm having a hard time believing you're the real Rockman from roughly 60 years ago."_

Rock screamed. 

Suddenly, a lone, animalistic howl rocked the walls with it's vibrations, causing the room's occupants to face the direction the sound came from, which just so happened to be on the other side of two free-swinging doors. Zero's battle instincts kicked in, reaching for the hilt of his beam sabre and activating it's green blade even before the howl tampered off. 

"**_It's loose!!!_**" 

The doors burst open with a long clang, the doors hitting the walls behind them and a flash of purple bolted in, intending on striking revenge against the humans who caged it. 

Fast, split second motions followed. The results were Zero hiding behind a lab table on the other side of the room with X and Cain in either arm. Rock remained, sitting numbly on the table. _60 years! No! What.... happened......?_ A sharp, snarling bark brought him back from his bewildered thoughts. He knew that sound all too well. "Gospel!" 

There was a metal-skidding-on-smooth-metal sound and then a whine. Gospel walked into Rock view of eyesight, looking confused and lost, evident in the lupine's eyes when they trained onto the blue robot. The voice that called to him was afraid. "Hey there, Treble. Come here. C'mere boy.." 

Rock reached out to touch the lupinoid's head and Gospel took comfort in seeing even a familiar face among these strangers. The dog whined again. Rock gave an empty smile. "Don't worry, Treble.. It's going to be okay. I'll get you back to your master somehow. Until then, you're going to be with me, okay?" 

Gospel nodded, but snapped his head and growled at the hiding trio when Cain raised his head to inspect the situation. "Extraordin'ry. That mech is the actual dog of the legendary Tsuyomi." 

Zero narrowed his eyes. "Whatever, Doc. I'm just wondering if it's safe to come out." 

"Gosuperu," whispered Rock, "....I don't know what's going on or how it can be fixed, but... something's going on and we need to trust someone, okay? And maybe Forte's somewhere. We'll find him too." 

The wolf bot seemed to brighten at the statement, his tail wagging behind him. A long howl followed, but it was certainly not out of anger. 

* * *

Elsewhere, Dr. Asaki was hovering over a still form on a lab table. _It was a complete success. I have the power to change time.._ "And you, my young friend, will be left to the dogs when your purpose has been served." 

As the doctor smirked and touched the face, a familiar presense filled the room. "Sir." 

"What is it." 

"I sense they will eventually find out about our plans through your past records. Do you suggest a plan of action or should I take care of that?" 

Asaki waved his hand in dismissal. "Do as you wish." 

"Then I request the usage of the specimen when the time comes." 

Hesitation. "You have my permission. Don't foul this up, because I'd hate to dismantle a loyal servant such as yourself." 

"Yes sir." 

* * *

And it took me forever to put two and two together and look up Forte in my jap-english book. And I found 'tsuyomi'. So I figured I go with the current flow and call him that instead of 'Forute'. ^.@; Even if the forte 'tsuyomi' refers to means 'strong suit' instead of 'loudly' in musical terms, I guess it's alright. 


	4. Chapter 04

  
  
All characters belong to Capcom. Asaki Kai belongs to me. I'm not making money off of this. It's for entertainment only. Dedicated to the few who know me and are *not* disgusted with the male/male inserts. Now, have yourself a nice day. ^^ 

* * *

**Chapter 4**

  
  
He wandered around, slightly confused, slightly awed, but mostly angry. Here he was, in a place that looked so familiar, it wasn't at all. Humans were everywhere, as well as robots about a foot taller than him. Some wore armor, most didn't. Where was he? 

When it got dark, he fled his hiding spot in search of.. something. Anything that would clue him in to what the heck was going on! 

Down the road aways, there was movement. His instincts shoved him against the wall as he watched one of the shadowed.. things swipe at a lamp post. An explosion of sparks erupted from the cut and it fell over with a metallic clank. He narrowed his eyes and made out three giant armored things that were definitely not human or even humanoid. He strained his ears to listen to the conversation. 

"Hot shot Neon just needs to make his destruction flashy, ne stripes?" 

There was a hiss and an indignant 'hmph'. "Don't mock the work of a true predator, avian." He narrowed his eyes. They sounded like... animals. The 'avian', yes, the wings were clear now, spoke in a sort of high pitched rasp. The other was slightly shorter, more hunched over, with a tail that reached over his head. Seemed like a cat. 

"Hey!" A large hand, bigger than his head, grabbed him by the waist roughly, activating his 'Ye shall not be caught' program and began to struggle, lashing out at something he couldn't touch. "Neon! Storm! Look at the baby I found!" 

_Baby?!_ "I am not a baby, you god damn animal!!" 

The thing chuckled and turned him around, making him face to face with a monkey's ugly mug. "Puny thing. You don't smell like a reploid. What are you?" 

"What's it to you, Curious George!" 

A low rumble of laughter and the baboon smirked. Behind him, two pairs of foot steps came closer. _This isn't good._

"Well, look what the mighty Mandrill caught.." A sniffing sound. "... Baby. He's not even a reploid. Seems not to have a neurologic pattern, just a bio-signature..." 

A shrilling bird scream. "Sigma might have an interest in this one.." 

"You aren't taking me anywhere!!!" He shrugged more, only to be pinned to the mandrill's chest in his strong, metallic arms. "My master will hear of this!!" 

That quieted them all; he wanted to kick himself in the head for his automatic response. _He's not your master, you dolt! And he never will be! Never never never!_

The cat, no, tiger, peered at him closer. "And tell us, boy, who is your master. It's rare to hear of such a bonding anymore, especially when you obviously have a programming beyond simple Hear-and-Obey commands, yet lack the free will like that of our codes.." 

He didn't say anything, but whispered with a stern voice. "What year is this." 

The bird laughed. "I think we have someone with Techal Amnesia." 

After that, another joined in, but the tiger regarded him strangly, like trying to place a face with a name. 

"C'mon, baby. Time to bring you to /our/ master, Lord Sigma." 

Pain shot up as the ape pressed a point on his arm.. and then there was nothing. 

* * *

"Well, there goes the vacation." Zero threw his hands up and plopped down on the bed, sprawling himself out. X gave him a skeptical look. "I called the reservation. If we can get this case done with in a week, we'll still have the cabin for our payed time." 

"But that's not the point! Just because your futuristic-- past-- whatever! fell out of the sky shouldn't mean we should be on call!" 

Yakasa sat on the bed space above Zero's head and peered down at him, a slight furrow between his brows. "You're being ridiculous, Zero. Stop thinking about it. The fact that we were able to /get/ one was utterly amazing. Calm down," he reached over the stroke his knuckles over his lover's cheek and smirked, "or you're sleeping alone tonight." 

What he got was a heart sinking frown mingled with a pout and puppy eyes. "You aren't /that/ cruel, are you?" Before X could answer, Zero grabbed a handful of his shirt close to the collar and yanked him down for a kiss. The way it ended up was their noses touched each other's chins and X found that hysterically funny. He started laughing and pulled his head away, amusement shining in his green eyes. Zero had a somewhat cross look. "I kiss you and it's funny?" 

It was a moment of gathering his breath before X asked, "You ever kiss me backwards?" He was about to start another fit of giggles over the mere though of it when Zero rolled over onto his stomach, got to all fours, and lunged, pinning his boyfriend to the headboard of the bed, a feral grin slowly making itself present. "Would it be funny if I kissed you like this?" 

X gave a grin of his own, but lacked the evil and held more amusement. "I dunno. How about we find out, ne aijin danji?" 

Zero snorted. "I thought lover boy was my pet name for /you/?" 

"Heh. Turn of the tables. Now shut up and start kissing." 

* * *

Rock idly stroked Gospel's head, who was curled up beside him, whining, while Rokku stared out the window as if in a trance. 

"The year is 2137, 50 years after X's capsulation. Reploids, free willed robots, out number any other mechas. They're divided, however. The Mavericks, mainly animal based reploids, are the enemy, attempting to wipe the human race out of existance. The Maverick Hunters are the ones who hunt them down. The free lancers, bounty hunters, and mercenaries can be any of the two, so trust no one. And then, there are the underground roots, groups of reploids who work in secret sociaties, or so believed. Remember, Rock. Trust nobody, except me, Yakasa, and Zero." "This world... We don't belong here, Treble. The enemy is stronger than either of us or all of us." 

Again, a whine, and the wolf laid his head in Rock's lap, sighing like only a canine can. 

"I promise we'll find Bass.. I promise." 

Gospel lifted his head at that, and nuzzled Rock's cheek affectionately, which got him a giggle and more petting. Gospel wasn't built to represent an ordinary dog, or a wolf, rather, and wasn't in no way oblivious to his surroundings. He alone knew Forte's secrets, his feelings... 

And right now, he knew that Rockman was putting his own worries aside. Of course the blue robot was concerned about Rush and his brother, but that's how he was. Putting aside his own safety, his personal emotions, all for the sake of the humans he protects. 

A little naive at times, but still one of the greatest foes Wily ever had or will have. Gospel admired Rock for his efforts and determination. Forte always wondered why he failed to kill the boy. It was simple. Rock was made a good 15 years before he or Forte ever came into existance. The reason was experience. 

There was a knock on the door. Treble growled lowly at it, but Rock silenced him before getting off the bed and cautiously walking towards the door. He pushed a button on the side and it opened. On the other side, Dr. Cain's face came into view, asking, "If you're not busy.. Rock, I would like to finish questioning you. ...Is that okay?" 

"Um.. sure.. Come on in, Doc." 

* * *

"We found him on the streets, m'lord. He said he has a master and is certainly not a reploid, yet has the foundation for the emotions we have. We thought it was wise to bring him to you." 

The leader of the Mavericks, Sigma, eyed the three Mavericks, along with the 'baby' as Spark Mandrill called it, the 'bag of spare parts' by Storm Eagle. Neon Tiger was sticking up for it, like a cat protecting a toy or a curiousity. 

"... Give him to Doppler and see what he can do with the runt." 

* * *

"So.... update me." 

"We have target number one, you have target number three, and they have targets two and five." 

"Hnnnn..." A lanquid stroke on the cheek. "And where's number four?" 

The man on his chest tapped his breastplate idly. "Don't worry. You'll see him soon. Can't tell you everything now, can I?" 

"It would be nice. I mean, what can change?" 

"Anything can change, koi. Until we send our angels back to heaven, the future is still open game. /Their/ future is still open game." 

Snort. "You scare me sometimes." 

"Oh shut up and stare at the sky." 

And he did. They never did much together and it was always hard to decide between getting off or just lounging together, out of sight from all eyes. He sighed, depressed. _Fuck the war. Why can't it just end?!_

He felt his lover climb higher on his torso until the top of his head was pressing under his chin. "Ai shiteru, Dree." 

"I love you too, Galen." 


	5. Chapter 05

  
  
All characters belong to Capcom. Sarn, Cross, and Stormy belongs to me. I'm not making money off of this. It's for entertainment only. Dedicated to the few who know me and are *not* disgusted with the male/male inserts. Now, have yourself a nice day. ^^ 

* * *

**Chapter 5**

  
  
_There are voices; they talk. I can't hear what they say. It's all jumbled and incoherent. I can't even make out a word. _

_What do I remember... There was that abnormality in space. The one everyone was sent to examine. _

_They arrived after me... and then the wind started blowing. Hard. _

_What could cause such a phenomenon to fling us all into that... gate?_

  
**"You'd got some nerve coming here, Blues. I thought this wasn't your jurisdiction." **

**Blues inwardly sighed at Forte's snide remarks and sat down, ignoring the cobra while he opened his laptop, connecting a cable to a socket under a tiny compartment in his buster. He switched the mini-computer on and set to work without a word. **

**"Hey... When did you get that?" Forte leaned over the older bot's shoulder, watching screen after screen of analysis on the swirling green... circle thing. **

**Blues didn't even look at Bass as he said, "I may not be on the bad side, but that doesn't me I'm one hundred percent good." **

**Forte smirked and gave a laugh. "You stole it." **

**"Would you rather I say, 'I borrowed it.'?" He looked up and made a face as the disc-like thing. "Rock's coming, Forte." **

**It didn't take an expert to determine the ebony robot's growl was toward his enemy. Protoman cut off his words with a wave of his hand. "Don't even think about it, Kobura," said the marron and grey bioroid, slowing his work down for a few seconds. "I won't allow either of you to do a thing while you're both in this area. Your little rivalry can damn well wait until I can figure what the disc actually is." **

**Forte let a sneer cross his face and spat, "God damn you, Blues. You owe me later." **

**"I owe you nothing. I know you like him.. ****_otoutosan_****." **

**Violet, slitted eyes wided and he stuttered, but didn't come up with anything intellectual by the time the sound of Rush's jets touched his ears. Forte cursed under his breath as he watched Rock jump off of the canoid's back and looked warily from himself to the green circle, and then to his brother only fifteen feet away from it, back to Forte. "****_Oniisan?_****" **

**"No fighting," was all he said. "Either of you." **

**Relief flooded Rock's expression and Forte snorted, stalking off to sit next to Gospel, who was dozing off not far from Blues. The small blue robot walked over to his brother and plopped down beside him. "Nani desu ka?" **

**"It's... biomechanical and bipolar, yet the atmosphere isn't being affected. And the energy signature is believed to belong to a black hole in space. It's organic, has holes in it, like a net... and...." **

**The screen hummed softly, process the last main chunk of information. The binary numbers begin to flash in and out, decreasing and sometimes increasing. "...What's that mean anyway, old man?" **

**Blues gave a halfway annoyed look while Rock blinked at Forte in disbelief that he would ever be over here. **

**"It means the thing is stable for now, but it seems ready to do whatever it is that it's.. well.. meant to do." **

**"Which is...?" **

**There was a long pause before... "I have no idea." **

**Both Forte and Rock fell backwards with sweatdrops drooping from their heads. Blues couldn't help but chuckle quietly as his half-brothers groaned in mind boggling agony. **

**Rush whined and pawed at the ground, but his ears perked up as a high pitch vibration began ringing in them. He looked over at Gospel, who's head was raised and was growling at the source of danger.... **

**Though, as he was saving the gathered data, a warning beep sounded. He blinked at the right corner of the laptop, where a small '****Warning****' was flashing. The sound brought the other two robots back to hovering over his shoulder. "Umm.. Oniisan? Is that bad?" **

**A window popped up when everything was saved, showing the changes in stability. The grey bot stiffened and both Rockman and Forte noticed. "It's very bad." **

**He suddenly stood, yanking the cord from his arm and cast the small computer as far as he could away from them and the green, newly recalled, portal. "It's a vortex!" **

**All heads turned to the disc, which had now started to spin like a hypnotizing object. No one had time to do anything as the canoid and lupinoid howled and the suction began. **

**Rush and Gospel dug their claws into the earth as Blues grabbed onto Forte, who, in return, latched onto Rock.... **

**The rushing air made it hard to hear and Forte, when he found out they weren't sliding closer to the hole, shouted, "How the hell are you not slipping?!" **

**"Simple modifications!" Blues shouted back. "Spikes from the bottom of the boots which can slant at angles! Very handy for wintery conditions!" **

**"How long is this supposed to keep up!!" **

**"No idea, Rokku, but if it doesn't stop soon, we're going to be seeing first hand what's on the other side of this!" ****_If there is an 'other side',_**** he thought grimly. **

**Rush was trying his best not to be dragged across the grassy floor as the pull grew stronger. But a moment later, he yowled as his claws no longer had a grasp in the dirt and felt himself tumbling along, then hitting something with a hard jolt. **

**Gospel barked as the other dog and the robots went head first into the gate. And his claws retracted...**

  
_Then I woke up in a strange place, only to beaten down by some force I didn't see. Then there came the pain. _

_I can't wake up, nor can I feel myself move. I'm tired, probably laid out on some sort of table, and those voices keep whispering.... _

_Help me...._

* * *

**Next day..**

Golden hair was pushed behind his back with a flick of his hand and ultramarine eyes shone with the early morning light, sparkling like the precious gems they were. Zero propped himself onto an elbow, his blanket draped up his body as high as his hips, looking down with a gentle smile at the body curled up next to him. 

Yakasa lay beside him, emerald-colored eyes closed and deep breathing light and whispy against his bare chest. One arm was tucked underneath the boy's head, the other resting on the bed in front of him. _Perfect._

It was an angel sleeping beside him, not the machine who was destined to win this war. X was just so sweet and caring. Anyone who wasn't a Maverick could like him, but he was more than just a hero. He was human at heart. 

Maybe that's why Zero needed to be with him. 

The shorter hunter had no idea of the honor involved in just touching him, let alone sharing the same bed, when it came to Zero and his bloodied background. But it amazed him how forgiving X was about... 

_"How can you even *look* at me with those eyes when you know what I've done in the past." _

_"But that's where it is. In the past. ...Zero, you are my best friend first, and then my lover. You being my friend was probably the best thing that ever happened to me, because you were always there for me, with a more mysterious origin than I ever could have. I didn't care about that though. But what I saw, that one time before fighting the very first fight with Vile, was a guardian angel. .... We are more alike than you think, Zero."_

_We are more alike.... How is that, Yakasa? How can you be covered in as much blood as I? ... What do you know that I don't?_

There was a chime at the door, and Zero froze instantly. _Uh oh..._

Now, here's the deal that Zero's panicking over. This was X's room, something, to the average persons, that Zero shouldn't be in at this time in the morning, especially naked and under the covers /with/ him. And as it turned out, everybody in the building and in the whole world were the 'average persons,' because they had yet to tell a soul and the thought had never occurred in their minds. 

_Fuck!_ Zero looked over his shoulder to where his armor lay scattered on the floor. A look of panic crossed his face as the chimer buzzed again. 

With a little less grace than he normally had, Zero unceremonious flung the blankets aside and stood by the bed, looking from the pieces of metal to the door, listening as the person seemed to be getting impatient. _Oh god I can't let them know we slept together what am I gonna do help!!!!_

X stirred at the sudden movement and groggily blinked his eyes at the ever-calm Crimson Hunter, who was stark naked in front of him... which got X a very nice few of his lover's ass-- _Der.. no._ "Zero, what's wrong?" 

A sudden dinging perked up his senses and Yakasa nearly screamed, covering his mouth to prevent it as well as double up for the slip of the tongue. 

Zero wanted to scream himself... from the humiliation if caught naked... sort of. Of course, the rumor was Zero could fight in the buff and it wouldn't matter. That was true... but no one mentioned the wee detail of the aftermath. 

Now, both X and Zero were running around like chickens with their heads cut off. The infernal dinging wouldn't cease either. 

The Blue Bomber finally made his way to the door, a sheet wrapped around his waist, stumbling and not-so-composed as he hit the intercom button. "Who is it?" _I squeaked!!_

~You feeling alright, X?~ 

X paled, and looked back at Zero, mouthing, "It's Dr. Cain!" Zero's eyes nearly fell out as he picked up his armor pieces, quickly, yet softly. "I... I'm fine, Dr. Cain." 

~Then can I come inside for a moment? I know it's early, but I need to talk to you.~ 

"....!!!!!!" 

Zero frantically shook his head, mouthing, "No," but Yakasa stuttered and said, "Umm... Give-- Gimme a few minutes, sir. I.. I'm not exactly dressed." 

~Suit yourself.~ 

Now the panic was really on. X threw a few things on, while Zero had his arms full, threating it to drop some of it, looking for a place to hide, still naked. X was practically biting his fingernails when the closet graced his eyes. It wasn't the largest space, but it'd be enough. He pushed Zero in that direction; the blonde got the clue and got in, trying to drop the red armor at his feet without making much of a sound. 

No such luck. 

X nearly died at the crash as he tossed Zero the sheet he had been using before and closed the door. Finally, he dashed over and hit the button by the entrance to his room and held in his breath as the metal door whooshed open and the 62 year old scientist stood there, eyeing him with worry. "Are you sure you're alright, X? You look flushed." 

"I'm perfectly fine." He smiled, albeit nervously, as Cain stepped inside. 

"Then what was that loud sound?" 

"Oh... that...... Um, well, some stuff in my closet fell off it's shelves suddenly and.. I'll get to it.... uh, later." 

"Of course... X, I need to talk to you about Rock." 

X stared blankly for a moment before blinking in recognition and nodded, motioning for a seat at the table in the corner. "What's the problem?" 

"Well," said the aging doctor, "according to him, it wasn't just him and Gospel who fell, literally, into our time. Now, half an hour before his retrieval, we detected five ports open up in the sky, dropping one titanium shelled object from each. 

"The only conclusion to that is Rock was not very alone, which is plain to see, since Rock and Gospel wouldn't be hanging out together. Forte, Rush, and Blues all made there way here.. Though when we scouted the areas where they fell, no signs of them." 

"So we have three unregistered robots running around the city, one being a not-so nice guy. ... If they were arrested, wouldn't that mean we could find them easier?" 

"Only if they were caught, 'were' being the key word here." 

"So.... what? We're supposed to go out and search for them? The city's a big place, Dr. Cain, and there are lots of nooks and cranies they could hide---" 

"No, we know that. ...First thing's first. We want to find out what caused this... skip in time to see if there's some way to reverse it. Then, we go find them." 

"But, doesn't that sound unreasonable? We should search for them first." 

"Consider, X. We have Rock and Gospel in our hands. Out there, is Blues, Rush, and Forte. Forte may not be so joyful over sharing the same space as his enemies and I have no desire to have him locked up, because those robots have different composures when it comes to nullifying their plasma cannons." 

X sighed and nodded. "Right... so we find the person responsible before finding the ones affected." 

Cain nodded back in agreement and stood up, pushing the chair back in, and letting his hands find his pockets. "Well, it's pretty much all I wanted to tell you. I would've pooled you and Zero together about it, but he's not in his room." 

X chuckled nervously as a sweatdrop appeared on the side of his face. "Too early to know for sure. He could be anywhere. But if I see him before you do, I'll tell him." 

"Alright.... Are you positive you're feeling okay?" 

The sweatdrop grew bigger. "Of course. Why wouldn't I?" 

"Just checking.." Then, he was out the door, and X felt his joints creek like they were over-warantee. 

The closet door opened and a sheet (rumpled and twisted) clad Zero stumbled out, tripping over the pieces of titanium at his feet. "No need for him to tell me," he said, mimicking as if Cain was still here, "because I've been listening to every word you two said. ..... Why am I in here, shoved into the closet where the walls are fucking cold on bare skin? Because I love your only hope for this planet and you're not supposed to know about it." With that finished, the blonde stepped on his arm gauntlet and fell on the carpetted floor, looking crossly up at his lover. 

X snickered and walked over to kneel beside him. "Grumpy?" 

"The hell I am. The morning was nice until /he/ came along, got me all worked up and stuffed into a cold closet with nothing but a sheet to protect myself with and my armor at my feet." 

The top hunter stiffled an evil chuckle at the thought and smirked, eyeing the nicely tanned body at his feet, skipping over the spot censored by white between muscle-toned calves and midriff. "My poor baby got cold.." It was mock sarcasm and Zero frowned. "Yes, I was cold and since you owe me one for it," his hand reached up, grabbing the back of X's neck, "you're gonna make me warm again." 

* * *

"Well, what have you gathered." 

Doppler, the resident (mad) doctor under Maverick rule, jumped slightly at the strength in Sigma's voice which still echoed in the dungeon-like room that had been assigned to his use. He turned around briskly and ungracefully, knowning full well what the reploid was talking about. "W--well, he's a p--piece of work, that's all I can say when it comes to vague details, but--but his signature is perfectly intuned to--" 

The hilt of Sigma's energy scythe hit the stone floor, silencing the doctor. "I could care less about that. Tell me who he is!" 

"Ye--yes sir. He's an older model, but..... all tests run positive. ......" 

Sigma folded his arms calmly, eyeing the scientific robot with a dangerous glow. "Who is he." 

Doppler flinched, but ruffed through his notes, knowing very well what would come of his answer. He really wanted to hold onto this one. "His name is Forte, created in 20XX by Dr. Wily." 

One white eyebrow arched up high, and his head turned towards the robot hanging from an examination tablet. Black body armor, trimmed with gold and a light, dim grey under armor. His built looked fresh, and the metal was original and had yet to be in need of a reconstruction. 

This 'older brother' to Sigma's virus was a threat to his existance. "I want him destroyed." 

"But-- but sire!--" 

"Enough! If you won't do it, I'll sentence him. He'll be the death of us all if he lives!" 

"But how can that be? He's physically weaker and less powerful than--" Doppler's eyes widened at the glare he recieved and at the words spoken directly to him. "If you keep disobeying me, /doctor/, you will share his fate. ... Put him in the colosseum!" 

Doppler bowed and nodded. "If you so desire, Sigma." 

And the master of all the Mavericks left the room, carrying with him a troublesome question.. 

_He cannot possibly be Forte, unless Wily copied Forte's databank into two machines... No. There's something very wrong and I will not let this bastard destroy me._

Through the halls and past subordinates, he stopped in the heart of the fortress and pressed his hand against an innocent-looking metal plate in the wall. "Access: Sigma. Password: Annihilation of X is sweeter than destruction of the human race." 

A computerized male voice rang quietly, "Voice print comfirmed. Access granted." 

The wall shimmered infront of him and Sigma stepped through it, the lights turning on upon his entry. 

The room was well spaced for what was stored in it. Old, yellow paged books placed on shelf after shelf, their leather bindings the only thing keeping them whole. A table with glass pipes, beakers, flasks, crucibles, test tubes, and other such simple science equipment. On another stock of shelves were various containers of who knows what, divided by chemical and natural. But in the center, one book lay open on a mount. 

It had no title, but Sigma always called it the Book of Prophets, or, in short, the Book. Magical symbols and seals were bound in the age-ridden pages, and the Lord of Viruses had deciphered the text himself. 

Nobody knew of its existance, for those who did were slain for its possession. Sigma eyed it, and said, "Solidify entrance," as he walked towards his prize... 

* * *

"Catch, Gospel!" 

The lupoid raced after his prey and launched himself up to snap his jaws down on the blue frisbee that real dogs seemed to love to play with. He landed perfectly and ran back to his temporary master. Ultimately, Rock knew how to entertain the wolf, and Gospel enjoyed it, just like Forte had done the same thing before. 

"Good boy." Rock smiled brightly and stroked the top of Gospel's head, who was wagging his tail in response. _I guess praise goes a long way with even Gospel._

"Hey, lookit the shrimp!" 

"Smallest stir fry I've ever seen." 

"He's even got a wolf bot for a playmate. How cuuuute." 

Three voices burst out laughing at the mockery and Gospel took his place infront of his temporary master as Rock turned around himself to see what in the nine hells was going on. 

Over by the stone wall that held back a second level of ground were three male hunters, smirking ferally down at their new piece of prey. 

The one one with ice blue and black armor frowned suddenly, as though Rock noticing them was a mistake. He was most likely an American model, with straight, red hair and dull black eyes. "Whatchoo lookin' at, boy?" 

"Hey, hey Sarn. Look. Doesn't his armor remind you of someone?" said the one with grey and black armor, jagged yellow prints placed variously on it, who was also to the first's right, elbowing him lightly in the side. He was definitely a native reploid with black hair and red eyes. "Blue armor, hell, it even looks like him." 

"Heh, you're right, Stormy. A mini-Megaman X! How precious." They started laughing again. 

"Who could be so dumb as to model a robot after X-san, and plus, making it the shortest creature on earth as well as giving it poorly made armor? He's not even worthy of being here. How sad is this?" stated the one behind the two others, donning tan, red, and white armor. A quick thought from the small bioroid placed him in the catagory of possibly being from Africa. The dark skin color was right, and his black hair was long, pulled tightly into small braids. 

Rock's eyes narrowed as Gospel growled lowly. 

"I think you made them mad, Cross," said Sarn. He cocked his head and grinned, hopping off the wall and motioning for the others to stay. "But how threatening can they be? The mutt's teeth look as sharp as spoons, and his cannon's probably only strong enough to, at the most, tickle even Wheel Gator." 

Well, Rock didn't know who Wheel Gator was, but it didn't take a genius to figure out he had been insulted. Even Gospel knew it, and it snapped his patience with these over grown ego-bags. The white and purple lupoid lunged head first at the one who was approaching, jaws wide open. 

The attack was nothing compared to Ostrich Overdrive's speed, but Sarn still didn't see it coming. He shouted in pain as Gospel latched onto his arm firmly, not loosening his grip even as he was tossed and thrown about in some desperate method of getting him to let go. "Get it off get it off Stormy don't just sit there Cross get this little roach OFF OF ME!!" 

Treble finally let go before the others could even start moving. And he took something extra along with him. Sarn's forearm hung from the side of his mouth, wires sprouting from the other side. Definitely something that would make a good toy. 

On the other hand, Sarn was on the ground, sweating in pain as the other two rush to his side, hauling him back onto to his feet. His expression was deadly. "You... You little monster! How dare you!" 

Rock knelt beside Gospel, patting the top of his head and was able to get the wolf to drop the limb. "Why don't you just leave us alone. We didn't ask for a fight." 

"Well," said Stormy, unhitching the hilt to his sabre, "you're gonna get one, whether you want it or not." 

"I think not." 

All heads turned. Some became relieved, some had that 'we're in deep shit' look, and one looked rightfully pissed. Zero took timed steps closer, a cold, passive expression drawn onto his face. "I think it's about time you three got what you deserve. Pick up the arm, Stormy, and report to the #4 training room. If you aren't there, you'll wish you were when I find you." 

Then he turned to the other two, more-so to Cross. "Drag his sorry ass for a hunter down to Medical and get that arm patched up. Then, join Stormy. Same thing... And you!" He pointed to the leader of the trio. "No special training for you. You're suspended from any and every mission for the next six months. I hope you enjoy janitor duty." 

Sarn sneered and spat out a few english curses, snatched his arm away from Stormy in irritation, and was lead away by Cross, Stormy breaking away at an intersection. 

With a sigh, Zero swerved his gace onto Rokku, who was blinking in curiosity over the whole ordeal. Zero waved a hand and offered a smile. "Those guys get off on picking and prodding at others. And those who are smart - slash - dumb end up being roughed up." 

Rockman nodded, not saying a word. The blonde haired man made him uncomfortable somehow. ... Maybe it was because he knew that he was with Yakasa, in relationship terms. Or maybe it was because he looked uncannily familiar somehow. 

Gospel, however, had no problem with Zero what-so-ever, as he walked up to him and rubbed up against the red-clad leg. Zero's smile widened slightly, and he beckoned for both to follow. "C'mon. Cain's looking for you two rascals... and it's not a good idea to miss your appointment with the old coot." 

"....Yoshi." 


	6. Chapter 06

  
  
All characters belong to Capcom. Asaki Kai and Blind belong to me. I'm not making money off of this. It's for entertainment only. Dedicated to the few who know me and are *not* disgusted with the male/male inserts. Now, have yourself a nice day. ^^ 

* * *

**Chapter 6**

  
  
Forte landed on the ground with a metal thud, enticing a low growl from the ebony android. The Flaming reploids, Mammoth and Stag, dusted their hands off and smirked as the doors started to close, leaving Bass growling on the floor. He got on his knees, sitting on the back of his legs for a second to take the time to punch the ground with both fists. 

_What's going on here?!_ he thought as he rose to his feet, glaring at the doors he knew there would be no chance of breaking, or even denting for that matter. _Don't even know how to treat a guest right..._ He smirked at that and looked around for the first time.... and his eyes flashed red in rage. 

He was standing at the edge of the battle area in an ancient colloseum, restored, indoors with a small skylight at the top of the dome, and filled to the brink with large animal mechs. 

_Am I still in Japan?? Wait, no, I have to be! The buildings in that city were covered in kanji symbols! But... why would the fucking Colloseum be in Japan?! It's supposed to be in Rome! Any ass knows that! _

Hold it! You shouldn't be worrying about that! You've got the rejects from Old McDonald's Farm to worry about. What are they cheering for? Me being eaten by some metal muncher or me being pounded to a bloodied pulp by one or numbers of them? Well, I'm not going down so easily. I'm not Wily's 'favorite' for nothing! 

His head whipped around to another section of the arena when a voice boomed over all the others. "Welcome, comrads, to just another small catch of entertainment we found on the street!" 

The spotlight fell on a reploid above the rest. Forte narrowed his eyes to get a closer look at him. Purplish-blue armor in color, red highlights on his boots, fraternal twin cannons on his shoulders, and a helm that really reminded him of Boba Fett. He, as well as everyone else, heard him snicker and continued, "I'm sure you've all heard the legends about Wily's Robot Masters. Yeah, the ones that took waaaaay too long to get rid of their /one/ adversary!" 

The boos, hysterical laughter, and animals sounds were humiliating, but shock was also mixed in his deep violet eyes, which had widened considerably. _How... how long... How long is way too long?! We finally defeated Megaman?! What?!.... No, we couldn't have. I'm sure of it! We could never--! How?! How was it done?! No! I won't believe it! This has to be a trick, or a lie! It can't be! It.. just can't be true...._

A cold shudder of dread ran through him. Not only was this confusing, but now it scared him. Terror and horror he never knew until now, and with it came a wish to be back home, in his choosen room, with a stupid book in his lap and Gospel napping beside him. And it was terribly funny to Forte in a sad way. 

He, Forte, self-proclaimed rival of Rockman, wanted to go home. Back to Wily and his insults and german accent and lousy house keeping and back to those nitwits who thought that Wily was God.... He'd kill for the chance. 

The doors open on the other side, grabbing the ebony robot's attention, listening to the strange announcer as the shadows moved beyond the doors, taking a form and odd shape. "So, let's make things interesting and send out someone who's just a bit higher in power than the fabled Forte! We all know him and wish that he'd stop reaching across the table with his tongue instead of his claws, Sting Chameleon!" 

_Who?!_

Sting took his first step out of the dark and entered the area, crouching down and hissing at his new opponent, tongue twitching. Forte recoiled in disgust. _Oh my god. Now I've seen everything._

The reptile pounced towards his new toy, intending on breaking it first thing, but he never saw the attack, nor heard it above the cries of his fellow Mavericks, that hit him dead on his flank and left him sprawled out on the ground, momentarily dazed and stunned. 

Both attacks had been sudden, and Forte froze from the chameleon's leap, but blinked disbelievingly at his savior, who's howls carried over the shouts of outraged from the spectators. "Rush!" 

The canoid stopped his growling and looked at Forte with a lopsided, goofy grin, panting happily. He would've said something, but the Mavericks were starting to become ugly. _What the hell._ "Rush, get us out of here!" 

No sooner were the words out of his mouth that the red canine had shifted to jet mode. Forte grinned to himself and jumped on Rush's back, blasting up just in time to miss a tongue lashing from Sting, who had recovered from the dirt-eating blow. 

Rapid shots were being fired from the anthropomorphs, Rush dodging and weaving around every one, some with space to spare and others just barely avoiding. The skylight was their destination, but could they make it? 

Vile watched their attempts stoically, his red eye chuckling for him. _Hickory dickory dock, only a few seconds left on the clock. The clock tolled death, but he didn't fall like the rest. The damn bastard I do mock._ "We'll see if you live to see your world, Forute." 

* * *

"Hey, doc, find anything yet?" As always, Zero's the only one who put so much disrespect into the word 'doc'. 

Cain could only sigh, the defeat to himself. "I think I might have. My search it down to the last three.... and," he turned around in his swivel chair, eyes on the three robots that just came in, "I heard from surveilence that Rock got into a bit of a jam with our resident troublesome trio." 

Rock nodded, his expression blandly innocent. "Yes sir." 

"Hmm... Zero, go find X for me. On foot." 

Zero's shoulders slumped and his face grew cross, mixed with weariness and a touch of 'he's /got/ to be kidding me'. But, the crimson reploid stalked off, head hanging and wondering what he did to deserve a foot search. 

Gospel felt a long talk coming up and went over to settle beside a wall console. Jeremy motioned for Rock to sit in a chair next to him and Rock obeyed, sitting in the chair with his feet hovering over the floor by a few inches. "This is about not being able to get home, isn't it?" 

The scientist nodded gravely. "I don't know what to do with you if there is no way to transfer you back. Yes, you always could become a Hunter, but Yakasa-san /is/ you, in a way. The concept won't be easily taken. You'd need an upgrade and have to assume a new identity altogether, maybe even have your memories erased. 

"And let's not forget that Forte and Blues, as well as Rush, are still out there, either all alone, under someone's wing, taken by the Mavericks.... The possibilities are endless. But I want your opinion on it. It's your decision to what you can do if we can't return you back to Dr. Light." 

Rock stared down at the ground, his hands clasped and tightly in his lap. Conflict shimmered in his eyes. He finally said after a moment, "I won't start thinking about that now. I've avoided it this long, but I'm not deciding until it's a sure thing I won't go home with the others. We don't belong here, sir, and erasing my memories will do nothing. If Yakasa is, indeed, me from this time, I can understand and respect that, but he did tell me that he did not remember anything. If it is resorted to not getting home, and I decide to stay here to be turned into something that will never be 'me' again, then even though they are not complete, I want him to have my memory chips. That's my only request." 

"One that I can grant, I do hope that it does resort to you getting home. It will change the future somewhere if you don't." 

Rock nodded again. "Thank you... but can I ask you a question?" 

"Yes?" 

"Well," he looked sheepish, "it's kind of personal. Is that okay?" 

"Ask and we'll see." 

"I was wondering, your name is Jeremy Cain, but you look only half gaijin... I was wondering about your parentage....." He trailed off, staring at the tips of his boots, his cheeks warming up. 

Cain laughed quietly. "If that's all you want to know, I'll be glad to tell you. My father was an American who came over here and married a Japanese woman. She died when I was born, but that didn't stop me from learning about both countries, including the languages. Like most gaijin, half or not, I kept my english name and the english way of having it arranged. I mean, Cain Jeremy looks weird as well as sound it. Does this have anything to do with Wily or Light?" 

"Umm... sorta. I was just remembering that Dr. Light is an english man and it's hard to mistake that Wily's from Germany. Both are invaders to a country one is trying to protect and the other take over. What right do they have and look what they cause." 

"Well then, Rokku, I suggest that you try to change the future, now that you have knowledge about it." 

Rock smiled then, albeit a small smile, but it was still coated with friendliness. He thanked Cain again and remained silent beyond that. It was then Dr. Cain's screen beeped and the doctor whirled around to check it, just as Zero came back, hauling a bewildered and stunned Yakasa. "Well well, look what I ran into on the way." 

Megaman X grunted something that sounded an awful lot like, "Literally," as he was swung around and brought to attention by Zero. X only side-glared his secret lover, then turned to Cain and asked, "Anything?" 

"Yup, and I'm wishing I remembered this from before. Would've saved us some trouble." Cain read from the profile in vague detail. "Dr. Asaki Kai, born on May 2, 20XX, was a renowned scientist in space travel, as well as mechanics, nuclear science, and most power-coordinated fields. 

"Then he started using his funds to experiment on dimension crossing and time travel. It was a dream of his to somehow use that against the Mavericks, but people deemed him crazy and threatened to lock him up if he continued. He was 58 when he disappeared, and that was four years ago. They made a big deal about this at the time." 

"So this is a mad-scientist-fakes-his-disappearance-so-he-can-secretly-work-on-his-evil-creation situation?" Zero put on the same expression before he left the room just minutes ago. _Why do I suddenly feel like I'm trapped in a bad piece of sci-fi fiction?_

"For the most part, yes. I'm sending you to the last sighting place the rumors point to. The west Nasagi building. Zero, X, I'm still apologizing for pulling you away from your vacation, but--" 

"Yeah, yeah, you want us to *ouff cough* go." Zero held his midriff where the blue reploid had elbowed him. "We'll go, sir." 

"Excellent." And then his gaze fell on Rock. "Would you like to join them? I know we shouldn't be asking you to, considering this may be too big for your power to handle, but this /is/ your problem and you /can/ hold your own, so...." 

There wasn't even a pause. "I'm going. This Asaki supposedly transported me, my enemy, our support units, and my brother here for some reason. I want to here it first hand." 

"Then it's settled. You're dismissed." 

"Yes sir," came the chorus of three. 

* * *

"They will be here soon, Asaki." 

Asaki nodded, without looking up from his fifth lookover of the projects success and calculations. "Take him. I've completed your request and recorded what I wanted. Do whatever it is that you want with him." 

There was fair amount of amusement and a twinge of something far more dangerous in his voice as the shadow stepped half way into the light, revealing red and black armor to gather the small robot in his arms. "I thank you, Asaki, for fulfilling my request. I'll return soon." 

The body disappeared, faded away in the shadows from whence he came. Kai sighed then, when he was sure he was alone, weariness seeping into his body and mind. _I've done it. I've surpassed all of the great geniuses that ever lived... but I won't live to see my creation exploited or even discovered again. All that work, for nothing... No, not for nothing. I've just insured that this cycle shall continue, as it always has. This future will never change, because it wasn't meant to._

Tears ran down his face. "And because it will, I will continue to loose my family... But I'll see them soon. I will....." 

* * *

Rush gave a surprised yelp as something suddenly picked up on his internal sensors. Could it be?... It is! The red robo-dog gave a few quick 'happy' barks and Forte peered at him bewildered. "Whatcha got, Rasshu? Is it Rockman?" 

The dog nodded, but then haulted in mid air and started to whimper. There were two identical markings for his master. They were both in the same spot, but... It still hurt. Who was what? 

Forte narrowed his eyes, his eyebrows raised in question. "What's wrong?" 

Rush shook his head, whining. But then they both blinked out and the canoid gave a long and low howl. He was so confused. But Forte, having a companion of his own who acted similarly, said, "Just go where you think he is. We'll most likely find him..." _I hope... Can't have a damn 'final battle' without a fucking rival._ Something pained inside, though, at the thought of finishing Megaman off. He scowled himself. _Love or programming, buster. Can't have both... Hey, wait! What happened to Blues?! This is fucking nuts; that halfling bastard better be okay._

* * *

"Is it just me, or is this place hollower than Vava's helmet?" 

X make a small sound and nodded, glancing around with the light provided only by the open door. "I don't like this. The place is supposed to be abandoned and empty, but not /this/ empty." 

Treble walked a little farther ahead, sniffing the ground for anything useful. However, some tiny creaking sound above him was messing up his concentration. How was he suppose to work when something was swinging above him--- Gospel raised his head and started sniffing the air. Bio-organic persperation, clinking chains, sharp, shallow breaths... The smell was familiar. It reminded him of a certain spot in the forests back home.... Oh no. 

The lupinoid started barking at something above them frantically, ignoring the loud echos rumbling off the walls, until his three companions were by his side. Rock was trying to calm him down and Yakasa asked, "What's the matter? Find something?" 

Gospel, with his head still looking upwards, whined lowly. Zero ignited his beam sabre like a flashlight and aimed it to the general area the wolf was looking to. What they saw could've been a bit disturbing. Rock has all but shrilled, "_Oniisan!!_" 

"It's about time you looked there," snickered a voice; Rock could've claimed it familiar. A loud snap followed, the door slamming shut behind them. Another click and a low hum indicated the dim lights turning on, casting the room in a fog-like atmosphere. 

Rock's eyes were cast up at his brother, hanging upside down by chains that wrapped around him like a poorly done coccoon. He was striped bare of everything except his body armor. His scarf, shield, and visored helmet were all missing. 

Oh the other hand, Zero and Yakasa were glaring at the unknown reploid who dared to do this. His armor was a foreboding red and black, jagged and sharp looking. A slightly domed plate was attached to his left lower-arm covering, cracking with force field energy. In his right hand was a stick about a foot long, made of curcuit-implanted brassish metal. He wore no helmet. Instead, both were surprised to find that the reploid was wearing a long, yellow bandana over his eyes, the ends tied behind his head and fell nearly to his knees. "Surprise surprise, Hunters.. and Rockman. I believe you've enjoyed your stay here so far, Rock?" 

Rock tore his sight away from Protoman at his name, barely controlling his anger. _This.. this monster..... How..--how could he have caught my brother? No one can catch my brother. We've all tried--.._ "Y-- you couldn't ha-- have caught him! Let him go!" 

"Hn hn hn.." The reploid smirked, twisting his body to put one foot out in the other as his left hand went to his hip. He looked away, downwards, and raised his weapon-welding hand in a shrug. "Ah, Rock. There's something you don't understand about the kagemusha, the shadow warriors. The only way to catch.. such a proud warrior such as your older brother, is if you are one of them. In other words, I /am/ a kagemusha. You want him back? I'll hand him over, if one of you," he pointed his bo at them, "defeat me. With honor, trickery, whichever. It doesn't matter." 

Gospel was crouching down, growling a threat to the newcomer... No one threatened his... his... no one threatened those he protected. No matter how much they reminded him of someone.. 

X and Zero turned to each other, X holding up two fingers and Zero nodded. They silently did evens-and-odds; X frowning when his one finger and Zero's two decided fate for them. His koibito was to challenge the shadowed reploid. 

The Crimson Hunter stood up, gripping the hilt of his best non-living friend. "I'll take that bet. I win, you tell us all we want to know and we take Blues with us. If you win...?" 

The reploid's smirk broke out wider. "If I win, I'll name the price then. Is that fair, Zero?" 

Zero matched his smirk. "Okay, that's fair." He took a step forward. "By the way, you know our names, but we don't know yours. Care to tell us or keep it a secret?" 

"Hn." The reploid raised his right hand and swiped it across him, extending the staff's ends to his own height. "They call me Blind." 

"Blind, huh." Zero took a few steps to the side, away from the other two, and Blind turned to keep them both at frontal views. "Fits very well, if I do say so myself." 

"Glad you agree." The statement barely passed his lips before both warriors rushed each other, weapons clashing again and again in determined fury. Red streaks raced around the room, one lighter, one darker, avoiding those who were also occupying the room with precision. 

Yakasa, Rock, and Gospel, on the other hand, were tore between watching the battle with earnest and trying to conceive a simple solution to getting Blues down.... X shook his head to clear it up and grabbed his smaller comnterpart by the shoulders. "Listen to me," he hissed. "I want you to use Gospel to fly you up above your brother and break the restraint somehow. Think you can?" 

"I..." He nodded and finally ripped his eyes away. Something about this was horrifying... 

The two bodies stopped moving near one side of the room, both only haven broken a mild sweat. Zero narrowed his eyes, greatly impressed by his opponent's self-given handicap. "Sure you don't wanna take that off? It could be your down fall in more ways then one." There was doubt in his voice as well as an edge of shallow breath. 

Blind gave him a roguish smile. "I trust the dark more than I trust myself. Don't worry Zero. As you can see, I'm a match for you, even with it on. Don't start getting cocky now that you've seen how I fight blindfolded." 

"Hey, no sweat. Now," he tossed his head back and took a deep breath, "let's get back to the task at hand, shall we?" 

"Mmm.. Let's," came the answering purr. 

As the clashing started again, Rock found it harder to concentrate on streaming out enough plasma power to have any effect on cutting the chain. He was only half way through his choosen link, but the two battling reploids and the fact that his brother was still unconscious were working up his nerves. Gospel was hovering below him, holding him up as he worked; the lupoid was occupying himself with trying to wake the bioroid the same way he does to Forte. 

Rock narrowed his eyes at the stubborn peice of metal. _C'mon, just break, darn you.._ At last, the link snapped under the weight and Yakasa was there to grab the robot as he fell to the ground and the past pair dropped down next to him. Rockman was practically hovering over Blues in a way a mother hen looks over her chicks... he just wasn't very good at it. Switching roles this far into the game was never the greatest idea. 

While they made a bolt for the door, the pace for the two reploids stepped up and dirtier tricks started popping up, such as Zero's attempt to drop kick his adversairy or Blind's quick shot to Zero's side with a mini-wrist laser that left a nasty sting. It was no longer a bargain fight. 

There was a surge of emotion that began to boil up inside the blonde hunter. It was raw, unfiltered, but not entirely unknown. It reflected hurt, suffering, pain, screams, tears... A hold on something from long ago that Zero just couldn't grasp. But it wasn't bloodlust. No, that felt different, but not by much. This was a feeling he felt for no other, had felt for no other. That's why it unnerved him. 

It was domination. 

Order was thrown out of balance in this event. This wasn't right. This reploid, Blind, should be submitting to him, not fighting and retaliating..... /That/ felt right. Submission. 

He wouldn't tolerate anything less. 

With a sudden burst of power, fueled by bewildered rage, Zero disarmed the black and red guardian and shoved him up against the wall, a snarled etched onto his features and ultramarine eyes bordering on a glowing red. There was a tight strain on his breathing. 

Blind's lip curled up in a smirk. "Well, well. Looks like you've won, Zero. Go on," he said, taunting to no end, "take what you've won." 

Zero dropped his dangerous expression at those words. His grip slacked and he felt lost in a world with double minds. "No--.. What--? Who.. who are you?.. What are you doing to me?!" 

"I'm doing nothing. You are the one reacting this way." 

The hunter shook his head and backed off a step, figuratively cornered. "I.. I'm not. It's you! You're doing this somehow!" Blind chuckled lowly and stepped forward once, again up against his opponent. One hand reached up to gently stroke Zero's cheek, only making blue eyes widen even more. "I make no one do anything. If at all, I open eyes. And your eyes are starting to open." 

Taking another step away, Zero tripped over the discarded metal bo and, in an instant, found himself on the floor with Blind pressing him down with both knees on his thighs. The latter grabbed at the collar of Zero's armor and brought him up to a sitting position. "You'll see someday, Zero. That you aren't who you think you are, but history repeats itself. When will you kill him Zero? When will you kill him right before my eyes, out of rage and what's unconsciously locked away in your programming. If it doesn't happen, I'll forgive you. If it does, then I can't. I will never, but I'll grant you the favor you'll ask." 

Blind brough him closer, nose to nose, and he could see puzzlement and a twitch of horror swimming in those beautiful eyes. "I'm a shadow, Zero. Whether you like it or not, I'll be on you. A shadow of your past!" The last word barely slipped out as the red and black reploid covered Zero's lips with his own. 

Time could only slow to creeping as something long forgotten flooded his memory. There was an excreciating craving of a need he couldn't touch, but a want he always found a way to keep sated for a short time. There was anger, a sense of betrayal, misery, and pure sadness. No images showed why and Zero found the strength to pull away, shivering in his confusion. 

_Who are you? _

Who am I? 

... I-- Oh no. 

Yakasa. He felt like screaming bloody murder at himself. 

Contorting his features to show another wave of anger, he shoved Blind off of him and scooted back and jump to him feet, making a straight beeline for the door. But a kind of nagging picked at his mind and cast a glance over his shoulder. 

Blind was only sitting there, not following or anything, just staring (or so it could be considered) at the floor. His shoulders were shaking. Zero could only wonder briefly, _Is he crying?_

His answer became 'apparently not' when a sound built up into a laughter that rattled your insides. It was filled to the brim with insanity and cruelty. 

And then, Blind was alone, watching the closed door with interest. A hand reached up to remove his blindfold, revealing dark eyes with a malicious gleam in them as the bright material was cast aside. "That's right, Zero. Run. Run back to your safe haven from the past and the future.. Run back to what I spent the whole damn war trying to set up. Run back to him. Don't think I won't be back. I'll forever be in your lives, because destiny will not be permitted to change, and neither will my intent on keeping this future as so." 


	7. Chapter 07

  
  
MegamanX, Zero, Cain, Rock Forte, Blues, Gospel, Rush, Sigma and the Mavericks belong to Capcom. Asaki Kai and Blind belong to me. I'm not making money off of this. It's for entertainment only. Dedicated to the few who know me and are *not* disgusted with the male/male inserts. Now, have yourself a nice day. ^^ 

XP Yes, now SCREAM at me for making you wait nearly half a stinkin' year for this chapter! ... ^_^ *halo* Then praise me for getting it out at all. 

And thank Nemi. XP Her and her tantalizing lil bribery pieces. 

* * *

**Chapter 7**

  
  


"Aroo!" 

A determined expression fell into a curious one as Forte looked down at the red dog. "Find him again?" 

Rassu nodded and burned up his engine, quickening his speed. It was time to finally catch up to his master. 

* * *

Yakasa and Rock were huddled down in a nearby alley when Zero rejoined the group. A dazed shine glinted in his ultramarine eyes, giving him the look of a lost puppy. Both the blue robots looked up at him when his shadow fell across the partially lit space, both giving identical expressions of worry to the Hunter. "Saa, Zero," X said softly, beckoning as Zero fell to his knees beside him. "_Daijoubu_?" 

Zero nodded, wearily and sighed, resting his head on X's shoulder. "Why wouldn't I be okay?" 

"Because you're pale and sweating." 

The blonde chuckled quietly and leaned against the wall, still using X to support him. His eyes closed for a moment and took the time to collect his thoughts; now that his lover was beside him, it was much easier to push aside what had happened within the old building. But the seeds of fear were figuratively planted by the reccuring images and tingling reminder of what had happened only a minute ago. "Don't worry, Yakasa." His eyes drifted over to the red bioroid partially in X's lap. "Save it for Sleeping Beauty." 

X frowned, suddenly concerned with their next step of action when his sight locked onto Blues. He did seem fast asleep, completely lax and breathing like one should. 

On X's other side, Rock was silent, processing every possible problem and solution that could associate with his brother's condition. His mind was also at odds with two results. _I don't want to hand him over to some future medicant without Dr. Light's supervision.... but he's long gone in this time period, so what am I gonna do?_

Gospel snuffed at some piece of paper which passed by and stood up, stretching his legs like any dog would. It was a quirk the wolf didn't mind, but the thought of replicating a real canine annoyed him to no end. ...Then again, he would conclude, loyalty was also an aspect of the common dog... and his loyalty lay in those he knew would remain loyal to him. 

Forte... 

Treble's ears perked up then. Something was coming this way.... by air. Rush? Could it be? The jet propulsion system sounded identical. Maybe....? With a howl, the lupinoid had shifted to his own jetmode, ignoring the cries behind him. 

Rock got to his feet instantly, calling out Gospel's name. _The roof!_ There was an impulse that took him by surprise and for a brief moment forgot existance as he jump-kicked up the alleyway walls and into the light above. 

"Aw, kuso!" X stood, watching both of the older-model bots head upwards. "Rock!" 

"I've got him, Yakasa." And Zero was scaling the height before the blue reploid could blink... 

...and he scowled, shifting Blues in his arms unconsciously. _Dog runs away, little boy wants to find it and big brother helps. And I'm left babysitting the one with the cold._

He sighed once and looked down at the still figure's peaceful face; it disturbed him to no ends at how history described a cold and feared warrior, yet the face under the visor looked nearly identical to Rock. _How could it be possible that a meer child--... No._ A sudden depression and sadness shone in his eyes. _This one will never be a child. He'll sacrifice himself and die when the time comes._

Time and history sucked at times like these. 

The mild lessons young humans learned in school about the Wily Wars were spared of the horrid details. They described the main participants as being either ruthless, deceitful, heroic, a genius, loyal, or heartless. Blues possessed all of those traits and then some, as the authoress Kalinka Cossack put into words. But then again, Ms. Cossack claimed she, her father, and their robots had been involved in the fourth war. That information was hard to swallow, but all of her books went along perfectly with the history records, so maybe it was true. 

_I'll ask.. discretely, of course._

His next thoughts of just leaving and waiting for the others to return were cut off by a distant shout and the low sound of a plasma blast. The voice didn't sound like either Rock's or Zero's.. and the blast didn't sound all that powerful, so what in the Nine Hells was going on up there?? 

_Hope this doesn't screw you up even more, Blues, but this could be important._

* * *

"Gospel!" 

The lupinoid came rushing up to them, pushing his thrusters into overdrive; never had Treble been this excited in seeing his master... or Rush. And he wasn't the only one that was pleased. Once Gospel was close enough, Forte transferred himself over to Gospel's back and everything seemed normal for a minute... 

"Gospel!" 

...until he released what the picture lacked. But Rush sped down to the rooftop of the building Rock was on, intending on pulling the picture into completion. 

Rock's heart skipped a beat when he saw that the object falling towards him wasn't a languid purple, but the rusty red of his own companion. He didn't even get a chance to cry out in joy before Rush plowed into him, sending both of them ground and Rock receiving a special delivery of doggie kisses. The Blue Bomber laughed, squirming below the wet assault. "Okay, okay! Matte yo! Stop, you crazy mutt! That tickles!" 

"Hey, Rokku! Are you--" As soon as the red reploid touched both feet to the gravel-covered surface, a sweatdrop formed on the side of his head. "--...alright?" It was either his imagination or did Treble change colors?? 

Wait, that was impossible. Besides, this one didn't have the crest the lupinoid had. _Rush... Wow. They didn't beat around the bush calling him happy-go-lucky, did they?_

So, if that was Rush (who now let up his thorough face washing to let Rock hug him), then where was Treble? 

The answer came hovering down, a new passenger on his back.... and it didn't take a genius to figure out this was the last piece they needed. And it was staring directly at him. "Forte." 

The cobra-crested robot's eye twitched; Zero didn't have a clue why. The Crimson Hunter had expected either slight surprise or nothing at all, not agitation. 

But Forte's gaze shifted, falling on the blue bot with his dog, who were looking back at the dark pair. "Rock, get over here." 

Zero tensed defensively, but Rock stood up and walked over to Forte, like it was the most natural action in the whole world. The black bot kneeled down on Gospel's back, bringing himself to near eye level with the Light bot. "You okay?" 

Rock nodded, surprising touched that Forte would even care. "Yeah, I'm fine. What about you?" 

A roguish smile crossed his face and a warm, amused glint sparked in his violet eyes. "Been better. M'just glad your still in one piece." But then, all that disappeared, replaced with the mask of coldness he normally donned. Forte stood back up at full height and stared at the blonde on the other side; his intent was intimidation, but you couldn't intimidate someone who loomed over you like a shrub to a redwood. "And who in the bloody hell are you?!" 

Zero's lip quirked up humorlessly. "I'd ask you the same thing, but you /know/ I know the answer to that. So instead, I'll ask you to kindly step off your support unit and surrender yourself to the Hunters' custody." 

Forte's look was smoldering. You just can't trust anybody.. "I will do no such thing unless I get some answers, starting with you." 

"Bass!" hissed Rock. "Don't be rude! I've spent the last few days with them. They won't hurt you." 

But Rock's words had gone unnoticed by either of the roof's occupants. Zero straightened and shrugged nonchalantly. "My name is Zero Omega, Class A Maverick Hunter and leader of the Special Unit #00. Would you like my rank and serial number too?" 

"Oh please," said the cobra, with mock enthusiasm. "It would just make my day if you did. Now I want answers. What the fuck is going on around here?!" 

"If you want to know so badly, you'll come back with us." 

"I WILL NOT!" The outburst was typical, but the ferosity and hurt behind it nearly sent the red reploid and the blue bioroid reeling. "I want to know who the hell to trust around here! Those damn animal creatures nearly /killed/ me--" Thoughts of what the purple humanoid had said came crashing back. "--and how will I know you won't do the same thing?! For Kami's sake, I will not believe this is our future!" 

A wild shot went off from his buster. The plasma ball, unknowingly created, harmlessly hit the building's rim. 

Both of Zero's eyebrows shot up. To himself, he murmured, "Mavericks got him first. He could be infected with something." 

"Forte...." Rock said quietly. "What happened?" 

That he heard and the cobra jumped down from Gospel's back; Rock could see the weariness and fatigue in Forte's eyes when he looked at the blue robot. "....I'll tell you later, Rokku. I'm just.... tired." 

Rock blinked and gathered Forte into his arms, expecting his rival to pull himself away and scowl. But he didn't. Forte, shockingly, buried his face into Rock's neck, muscles lax and limp. "I hate it here, Rock. I know things I don't want to know, I've seen the terrors of this time... I want to go back home.." 

"Yeah... I know how you feel." _I feel lost, scared. If Blues doesn't wake up, we'll be flying this one solo... but then again, how would he handle this? How /could/ he?..._

"Can anyone explain what the heck is going on up here??" 

Heads whirled around to see Yakasa watching them hawkishly, frowning slightly. Zero sighed in relief, wiping away a drop of sweat from his brow. "What you see is what you get. We've located Forte and Rush." 

"Lovely." The comment wasn't snide, but it wasn't too kind either; the whole day had been tedious and it was beginning to show. But he kept his eyes on the two bioroids curiously. Rock was blushing faintly and staring at the ground, reality coming back to the situation. Forte, however... He was staring at X like he was seeing a ghost or a double; funny part is, he was. 

Dilated violet eyes shot between between Rock's face and the full form of the blue reploid. It lasted a minute, with Zero growing agitated, the sweatdrops on X's head multiplying, and Rock seemed to blush harder every time Forte looked at him. 

"_Alright, _**_who THE FUCK IS _****_HE?!?!_**" 

"Depends on who you are refering to," muttered Zero, crossing his arms. "I'm sure you know who /one/ of them is, at least." 

"Huh--" _Oh... oh no._ His heart rhythm abrupted skipped a few beats as he finally identified the mass that laid in X's arms. _Oh gods, no._ "......." 

"He's alive, Forte, just....." Rock bit his lip. "...in a stasis lock." 

"Which is why I want to get him back to Cain and the Lifesavor and run a diagnostic on him, so if we could get moving, please? We can answer your questions back at the base." 

Zero's brow arched. He didn't blame X for being a bit snippish, but not only was a vital piece of history in his arms locked down, but the whole adventure they were having with the bioroids seemed exhausting. And to make things worse, Forte has just come from the Mavericks. He could've been followed, for all they knew. And Blind might be snooping around-- he repressed a shiver. Something was very wrong in the town of Tokyo. The blonde took steps towards the edge. "Let's go. And when we get there, I'm putting us all under a virus scan." 

"Why?" 

The Hunter looked over his shoulder at Rock, his eyes hard and serious. "Because something smells fishy about the whole situation... and I ain't talkin' about the time Volt Kraken dumped sturgeon guts all over me." 

* * *

"...And it ends." Sigma sneered, closing the book. It wouldn't write anymore, but that was fine. He knew what prizes the Hunters had in their possession now. _Forte wasn't re-discovered! He's the original! Time slipped... But how?_ "It probably has to do with the location they were in..." he mused. 

The Maverick leader tapped his wrist com. "Vile. I need you to run a one-man scout." 

"To where, sir?" came the reply. 

"West district. In the perimeter of the Genshin and Nasagi buildings." 

There was a short pause. "What am I looking for, sir?" 

Sigma blinked questionably at his wrist, taken aback. _Did he just sound.... happy??_

But he quickly dismissed it, concluding that Vile was at least glad to be of some service; the blue-purple reploid hadn't recieved many missions outside of the base as of late. _Probably just bored out of his mind. That might be why he's been going into town on acquired leave time. He's a scientifical nutcase._ "Report anything suspicious you find to me. Anything." 

"Copy that, Vile out." 

* * *

Cain pinched the bridge of his nose. Four pairs of eyes watching him with a sliver of hope didn't help his conscience; it only played with his guilt. A stasis lock was tricky to undo if the robot put itself in one, but impossible if the creator put it in one. That was also a puzzler. Wily and Light are both dead, so they couldn't have put it on him. But if Blues put it on himself... he could take himself out of it at any time. ....... But why would he in the first place? 

One of the Lifesavor medics handed him a read-out and he sighed in relief after skimming over it. "Okay," he said, readjusting his glasses. "You can breathe now. I have good news and bad news." 

The robots stayed silent, waiting. 

"He's clean of any viral program and the lock is self-made. There are no systematical malfunctions and everything is green." 

Rock fidgeted. "And the bad news...?" he asked, timidly. 

"Well... From what we can gather on his blueprints-- what we got was vague compared to what he'd updated himself with-- there's something up here," he tapped his forehead, "that seems to be an extra file case, encrypted with nonsense. It could be why he's not able to break out... We'd like to remove it incase it's purpose is damaging." 

The gaijin doctor walked around the occupied medical table, making his way to the small group, but more specifically, over to the pair of bioroids. "But, we have our priorities. He's not of this time, as are neither of you, so I want permission from the /both/ of you for this." 

Forte and Rock exchange glances. "But why from both of us?" 

Cain looked sternly at the cobra. "Are you or are you not his brother by creator as well?" 

Forte started, then looked down at the floor. Technically, Blues was his half-brother, but there were no emotional attachments. The only time the maroon and grey robot ever called him 'brother' was when he wanted to annoy the ebony bot. But... "Yeah, I am." Following, Forte grabbed Rock's arm and pulled him over to the corner of the room to animately discuss it. 

"Now, as for you two," said Cain, poking the chests of the reploid couple, pulling them out of their silent gazing on the older models. "I want to know what you found out in the west district." 

It was their turn to exchange glances. 

"We found... um.." Zero rubbed the nape of his neck. "We didn't find much. Just a stray reploid." 

"Oh?" Cain found himself interested. "And what happened." 

_Please... Yakasa, if you have any compassion in your wee little golden heart, you will pick this up in your very mature and reportive voice._

"Dr. Cain, we went there and discovered nothing in the building. It was clean. And apparently, a rogue reploid- Blind, sir- took shelter there. He obviosuly knew something, because not only was he unsurprised about Rock's presense, Blind knew who Rock was. And he was also the one holding Blues captive. We fought him, or more or less, Zero did, while Rock, Treble, and myself worked to get Blues down from the ceiling." 

_Yakasa, I /love/ you!_

Cain scratches his chin, puzzled. "So this reploid was blind?" 

X shook his head. "No, he calls himself Blind, because he wears some yellow material over his eyes. ...But he fights very well for someone who impairs his vision purposefully." 

"And... who won the battle between ...Blind and Zero?" He looked between the two, landing his eyes on Zero finally when X did. Both expected either anger or gloating, but all Zero did was take a calming breath. "I did, sir, but he was not terminated. On account for that he does contain information, he might be useful in the near future." 

"....And why didn't you get what we wanted, Zero? You heard the bargain he gave us." X blinked. 

The Crimson Hunter shook his head. "Blues' safety seemed a bit more important at the point." 

"And what makes you think we'll see him again?" inquired Cain, casting a glance over his shoulder to double-check the Lifesavors' work. 

His blood ran cold. Going on instinct that Blind will remain there wouldn't please either Cain or X... or even Signas if he catches wind of just how loose of a cannon Zero really is. Losing Blind was not an option or it could cost the bioroids everthing. He was in some deep shit. 

"Alright, we have your stinking answer, doctor." 

...Scratch that. He was saved by the bioroid. Zero resisted sighing in relief. _Thank Kami for small favors._

Before Forte could tell Cain off with what they could do with that case file when they were done, Rock said, "Dr. Cain, we'll let you do this--" 

"--but if you screw up, your head will be on a silver platter so fast--" 

"Forte!" 

"What?!" 

Whoever couldn't tell that Forte was agitated over the situation had to be denser than wood. But Cain, as well as the two Hunters, knew very well that the program in the bioroids prevented them from killing humans, no matter what time period they were in. "It's alright. I plan to make sure he stays safe. ...And if anything does go wrong, the operation will be cancelled." 

Zero huffed, some of his normal behavior leaking in. "Are we dismissed yet?" 

"...Fine. Go ahead." 

The red and blue Hunters were out of there in a heartbeat, the other two robots lagging behind to strike up the rest of the compromise. 

* * *

"Zero, what is it?" 

Two minutes hadn't even gone by since Zero had dragged X from the labs. But this was important and it was much-so that it shouldn't be talked about in the hallways. The blonde continued his dragging. "There's more to Blind than what we said." 

"..... Huh?" X blinked and stayed silent for a moment, before Zero literally kicked open the door to X's room and tossed them both inside, locking the not too damaged door behind him. 

"You have got to stop doing that," said Yakasa, exasperated. "Someone is gonna one day get a clue and ask why my door constantly needs fixing!" 

"Yeah well... We can worry about that later." 

"Exactly, because you have some explaining to do, Z." X took a seat in the chair by his desk, staring up at his lover. 

Zero sighed and removed his helmet, tossing it thoughtlessly on the bed. "Blind knows a bit more than he's leading on. I /did/ beat him, no doubt about that, but in the end... he won. Some.... something snapped. In /me/! I... I had him against the wall, and he asked me to take what I wanted with this little purr. And I wanted him! Him! It was like this... domination lust! That's what snapped. The whole feeling of him winning was unacceptable and I /had/ to win. And I did. 

"But... then... he started all this weird mumbo jumbo shit! Like he was trying to suduce me by pinpointing what I felt and then he goes ranting off about opening eyes and when I will kill someone like that person was special to me. And then..... He kissed me.." 

Green eyes were widened as all this poured out into the open. He could see why Zero was... upset, if that was the word, but there was something deeper hiding in those blue eyes. X stood up and crossed the room, letting Zero slump against him. "I was afraid... Kasa-chan I was scared." 

"It's okay... Yoshi desu da yo." X felt around his partner's chest, flicking at the armor recall. The feared armor disappeared in a flash, leaving behind the civilian clothes Zero kept under it. X did the same for himself and pulled him over to sit on the bed, gathering the blonde into his arms and lap. "He won't hurt you... He can't, I won't let him." 

"......Domo arigatou..." 

And suddenly, there was a scream. 

* * *

He came across his choosen one laughing maliciously at the view in the distance. "It's the Siren's call. It's begun." 

"This is it, isn't it?" 

"Mmm, definitely." The prophet turned around and sauntered over to him. "After tonight, it should all be over." 

"Casualties?" 

"Everyone but our key players," he purred. 

"And us?" 

His partner smirked and kissed his cheek. "Alive and in bed, fucking like rabbits before the sun even rises." 

He matched the smirk of his lover, shivering in delight. "There is a god." 

The other laughed with amusement this time, a rare sound nowadays. "You, my darling koibito, are a horny bastard." 

"And what was that you were saying a night or two ago? You, my little sooth sayer, are equally, if not more, horny than I." 

"Mmm hmm.. But come on. We have business to take care of...and it doesn't include jumping each other." 

A chuckled. "If you say so. So what's out role?" 

"Guardians, of course. We keep your slave driver busy and get them to the rendez vous point. They go through and I release Judgement... leaving only them, us, and him on the battlefield." 

"Positive it won't be, them, him, and /me/? Judgement's going to pull some chords and I don't want you fighting if you'll be hurt." 

"Hey, I'm taken care of myself for years now. Everything will be alright. But your concern is appreciated." 

"It better be, dammit.." 

His mate smiled and brought him for a sweet kiss, one that was gratefully accepted and returned. The Judgement would commence... They would make sure of it. 


	8. Chapter 08

  
  
Megaman X, Zero, Cain, Rock Forte, Blues, Gospel, Rush, Sigma and the Mavericks belong to Capcom. Asaki Kai and Blind belong to me. I'm not making money off of this. It's for entertainment only. Dedicated to the few who know me and are *not* disgusted with the male/male inserts. Now, have yourself a nice day. ^^ 

A/N: ^^; okay, I realize people get a lil ticked off at the alternating between Japanese and American names. I do that alot because, well, umm.. I like the name Rock over Mega, o.o but I prefer Megaman over Rockman. Hate the name Protoman.. It's, like... icky. *grossed out face* And then there's X and Yakasa. ... o.o; *shrugs* Umm... yeah, X /is/ his name, but Yakasa just draws it out, y'know? No? 9.9;; Crud. Treble Gospel, Bass Forte, poe-tay-toe poe-tah-toe, toe-may-toe toe-mah-toe. ^_@; Ye~ah... Riiiiight. 

* * *

**Chapter 8**

  
  


The tapping continued. 

Forte grit his teeth behind tightly pursed lips, hands flexing where they couldn't be seen. Two minutes. Only two minutes had gone by since Cain had shooed them out.. Only one minute and 46 seconds since Zero had whisked X away for some 'personal reporting'. 

47. 

48. 

49. 

Tap. Tap. Tap. 

Forte frowned. One minute and 22 seconds since Rock idly swung his feet over the edge of the chair meant for someone bigger as his feet tapped against the floor. Any ever tap wore away at his nerves. 

And for every second of deathly silence, there was that split second tapping.... 

"Will you knock it off?!" 

Well, the tapping stopped. That was good. ... Very good. Forte tightened his folded his arms and closed his eyes. _No tapping... No tapping._

"Forte?" 

But, there was still the cause. "What." 

"Are you alright?" 

The cobra opened his eyes, narrowing them. Alright? Alright?! Of course he wasn't alright!! He was stuck a fricking half century into the damn future with a more advanced version of the Rock that was before him with the suffix 'X' where Blues was injured in the most peculiar way and aside from that, he's discovered that Rock /loses/ the war! Rock! The blueberry sweetheart butterball who's always kicked their asses! And, if Forte wasn't mistaken, Zero seemed to be /Blues/ future counterpart. Damn fool just seemed to scream of him, despite being, oh, I dunno, very out-spoken and loud... But Kami only knows what the hell was going on. 

And so, Forte answered simply, "'M fine. Why." 

Rock winced at the curt reply; so Forte still wasn't in a good mood... Then again, when was he ever? "Because. We may need you for us if something happens." 

Silence. 

"...That's the lamest excuse I've ever heard." 

"But it's true," he whispered, pointing those big, blue irises at the ebony bot, trying to get him to open up with the power of his adorability... Hey, don't knock it. It works for Togepi all the time. 

Forte turned his head and snorted, catching Rock still staring at him from the corner of a violet eye. Rock was acting meek... yet strong for someone who was trapped in a time that wasn't theirs and a brother being operated on. Forte wanted nothing more than to break down and cry, but his pride and stubbornness held it in. He would not submit his feelings to a pint-size do-gooder with tasteless armor, a stupid dog, a disgustingly cheerful attitude, a cute voice, a nice face, a delicious body that screamed out to be touched, caressed, cherished, fucked into a mattress covered in silk, writhering-- _AHHHH! NO! Wily dancing the Macarena on his desk in his boxers! Martha Stewart! Hardman with a hard on! Light and Wily getting it on over Blues' half finished body! Two dogs screwing! Richard Simmons and Bill Clinton doing the vertical limbo!_

Rock blinked and cocked his head to the side when he saw Forte shudder and turn to look at the doors leading to the hallway. The black robot was acting peculiar and maybe a little suspcious. Maybe. "Forte?" 

He didn't answer right away. "Yeah?" 

"....What happened before you met up with us." 

Forte narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips tightly, but gave a nonchalant shrug, never sparing Rock a glance. "They have animal-based machines here. Mavericks. I got an up-close and personal encounter, and nearly got my head ripped off by a lizard's tongue before your dog got there." 

Rock sighed and shook his head. "Well, I just can't sit here. Something's been nagging my mind about all this and I want to look into it." 

_He /can't/ mean what I think he's implying.. is he?_ "What are you talking about, blue boy?" 

Rock stood up and shrugged, walking towards the door. "I want to know what caused this future." 

But he didn't get a step farther. The ink-colored bot was in his face with a hand wrapped tightly around his arm before he could even take another breath. Forte's eyes were wide open, purple irises hinted with hysteria. "Don't you dare..." 

Rock recoiled and took a step back. His own eyes were wide, but from fright. If there ever was a time when Forte truly scared him, this seemed a hundred times worse than any confrontation on the field. The Light robot jerked his arm back, but Forte matched the movement by following through, bringing him closer than ever. "Don't you ever dare investigate on this future. Don't do it. Don't /think/ it. No one deserves to know what the future is..." 

Stunned at the venomous tone, Rock couldn't even open his mouth, much less retaliate. _Why..? Maybe we could prevent it. We /can/... Just let me... Please let me._

Forte let out a shaky breath and loosened his hold, but those wild eyes never went away. "This may well be what's intended for us.. /This/. This world, timeline, place, whatever, could very well be what makes this future happen. Don't question the past or future. Don't.." 

Rock nodded mutely, but doing so brought the hand on his neck into his reality. The one that had previously been on his arm. And was it Rock's imagination or was Forte's face getting closer? "Don't.." 

It wasn't and Rock swallowed nervously as a warm breath swept over his lips. Body contact, persuasive position, less than an inch away from being kissed... Rockman, hero of his time, was ready to die blissfully at the hands of the enemy. _If there is a god, please let this happen right.._

"Don't." 

But God never answers the prays of children not of his making... A sonic force shrilled on a high frequency energy pitch at that moment, paralyzing all senses except hearing perception. That was scrambled into static and a head splitting shriek, causing the two bioroids to stagger away from each other, gripping their heads in a frail attempt to soothe the agressive pain rattling around in their heads. 

But they weren't the only ones to hear it. All reploids on the "premise" were writhering in agony over the sound and even those a mile away were feeling it's effects. Normal running machines when on the fritz, short circuiting and threatening to burn out if the noise didn't stop... 

Then and only then, minute-sized hours crept by and the sound stopped, leaving reploids confused to tears and machines returning to their previous working status. Rock gasped for breath at the headache that was ungraciously left behind in his metal cranium. Forte wasn't better off, having spent the last ten seconds banging his head against the steel wall. Not a very smart idea.. 

"_WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!_" was the cry of outrage the cobra-crested robot shouted, glaring an inferno in their surroundings. 

Between gulps, Rock pulled off the ability to speak, "I think... it.. it came.. from," he coughed harshly, "inside the lab." 

Forte stared balefully at the double doors, but a tiny, more ignored part of his mind was terrified. But at the moment, all his could spit out with venomous overtones was, "That fucking doctor.." With restraint, Forte helped Rock onto his feet and pulled him along. "I don't care what the hell he said, we're going in there." 

Rock gave a weak nod as both made the short trip to the doors and all but kicked them in, shattering the lock beyond repair. 

The sight beyond them was impossible. 

The over-hanging light had all blown, save for two, and some had even fallen fron their fixtures, wires and all. Computer monitors were blown as well, small fires burning where the screens had been. Consols sparked and leaked smoke. Two of the more life-lacking Lifesavor bots were immobile and sprawled over the floor, their circuits fried beyond repair. Cain huddled under the inside of a desk, paler than a ghost and trembling like a personal earthquake. A small, hand-sized remote was griped firmly by pastey white fingers. And in the middle of it all... 

Rock screamed and rushed over to his brother's side. The red shell of a body had gone into a seizure (A/N: luckily, robots don't foam, unless they're Forte needing to slaughter or screw someone ^^;), spasmic movements twitching in the joints and eyes rolled up into his head. Rock wanted to go into a seizure himself, he was so afraid. The Blue Bomber barely paid attention as Forte tried to drag Cain out from hiding with his foul temper and questions. 

_Assess the situation.._ Rock pulled off his right glove and willed himself to calm down. The main neuro-compartment was open in Blues' forehead. _What was that thing Cain was tampering with?_ Putting a hand to hold Blues down, he peered inside. 

Something was wrong. There was an added attachment to his memory circuit board, some weird.. rectangular chip. _The case file._ It was slightly dislodged. _Maybe..._ With a delicate touch and mentally crossed fingers, Rock pressed it back into place. 

The seizure stopped, thankfully, and Rock heaved a sigh as Blues stilled... right before he collapsed over the body into more tears. 

The doors slammed open. "What the /hell/ is going on, C--" 

Rock and Forte looked up to see their future guardians look about with sheer bewilderment. jaws slack and eyes wild. "What.. happened?" 

Forte sneered. "Your damn scientist fucked up, that's what happened!" 

Fearing the threat of Cain losing his head, X hurried over to Forte and shooed him aside. Zero on the other hand, strolled over to Rock with a curious expression. "Do you know what happened, Rock-kun?" 

Rock shood his head, sad eyes closing. "Iie, I don't. All I know is that sound came from in here and when it stopped, we found Blues convulsing and everything as it is now.. It might have come from Blues, but I'm not sure how." 

"Zero! Get a medical kit!" 

The two swung to look at X craddling the Dr. Cain's head in his lap; Zero could see a small trickle of blood streaming out of his ear. But as Zero turned to go fetch a kit, another disturbence made itself known. 

Signas walked through the entrance with an aura that flatly stated 'I'm on a mission don't even talk to me unless you want to get demoted to toilet duty for the rest of your life'. The only one who knew him better was Alia, who was right on his heels, trying to explain their situation, but the general would have nothing of it. Not from her. "X, Zero, I want a report from the /both/ of you, starting from the second you got off of your vacation." 

"For Christ's sake, Sig!" yelled Zero, tossing X a small kit from across the room; the future Blue Bomber caught it with ease. "We have a crisis on our hands and you want a report?! What's wrong with you?!" But then he stopped and blinked. "Hey. Weren't you supposed to be coming back from that business trip in two days?" 

"I could say the same for you and your unspent off-time," he huffed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Just talk to me and then explain why a high frequency shockwave went through the entire block?" 

X snorted as he patched up the doctor's ear. "If you want us to talk, all you'll hear about is shit. Lots of shit happened since we came back. Robots fall from the sky, some vision impaired reploid attacks us when we go looking for answers, not to mention lots of small, unimportant issues that kept popping up. If you want actual details, I suggest that you listen to Alia and leave. Us. Alone!" 

There was a stunned silence as X picked Cain up and sat him down on the desktop. It was Zero broke it with a throw of his hands. "Now, see, if this is enough to get X snippish, then it's not very hard figuring out how the rest of us are. Now get your foot out of our asses and go away, Signas! Don't bother us until A- we come crying back to you, B- Sigma is dead, or even C- after our pseudo-vacation time is /over/! So please, take that damn precise CPU of yours and go shove it somewhere useful." 

Signas glared at the Crimson Hunter, but held his tongue and put his attention solely on X. "Will Dr. Cain be alright?" 

X nodded wearily. "Mmm.. yes, he will be. Once less thing to worry about." 

The gaijin was still quivering, but seemed to be focusing again as X kept a constant check on his pulse. "Sir, what happened in here? Do you know?" 

It a moment, but Cain was able to reply.. "The.. the.. the chip. It.. When..." he swallowed, "we tried to remove it, a micro circuit breaker was broken.. It was connected to /something/.... maybe a security system or something... to prevent it's removal. ...But there's no way he could vocalize such a sound." 

"Don't be so sure, doctor," murmured Rock, feeling around Blues' neck. "If there's anything I've learned, my brother is able to do all that is considered impossible." 

Forte snorted. "I say we stop the talking, get out there, and find the shithead who put that damn chip in his head.. Like now." 

* * *

"My loyal followers of the Purge. /Now/ is the time!" 

The great hall was filled with active life and excitement. Mavericks of large and small stature pushed and shoved to crowd as close to their leader as they possibly could.. 

And above them, Sigma held his presense like a monarch above all monarchs. He was determined to be the Savior of Reploids, even if he had to kill the ones in his way. "The Hunters have weakened! Defenses are down! And we shall strike them. Because war is about taking what you can, when you can. The rules have changed, the playing field altered, and we will come out victorious." 

The monstrous crowd cheered, the abnomolies coursing through their systems churning the words into the primal lust for battle and spilt blood. The Hunters may outnumber them, but there was enough fire power and strength in one of the irregular reploids that one of them equalled four or five hunters. It would be glorious. 

Except there were future-reminded ones among the clan of beasts. They stayed to the side, grave expressions locked into place. 

No one noticed them. 

"C'mon, kitten. Time to go play with the big boys." 

The two were relieved that they snuck out without being noticed, but Sigma was slightly preoccupied. As the Mavericks got themselves hyped for battle, Sigma was scanning the layout for the only /pure/ purple reploid in his ranks. 

But Vile wasn't among them. In fact, he never even reported back, which only caused to irritate the clown-faced machine. And to his further agrivation, he could hail Vile on the comm link. _That's the last time I trust him with anything._

But then, a small, hideous smile quirked his lips. Behind him, protected by an electro-barrier, was his Book. The Book would know... 

The barrier disappeared from existance with a hum that bled away. "Show me Vile." 

An unnatural breeze blew by, opening the thick, leather binding and brushing the pages until it stopped. Then the text began to apear. 

_The one known as Vile resides  
in a building by the seaside.  
To him there be a lust so tight  
he wants to be there day and night.  
You will not see now, but later  
and when you face, he'll be the traitor._

_Blind be the reploid, hence  
for he shall pass Judgement's sentence.  
Vile is devote to his love of sixty  
and will stay with his raven-pixie.  
Try to kill you, he gambles to score;  
he is among your ranks no more._

Sigma's face was contoured with rage. Turning back to the mosh pit below, he shouted with a wave of his hand, "And if any of you see Vile, /kill him/!" 

They only cheered more. 

* * *

Now let's play a game. ^_^ Who can spot the phrase that screams I've been hanging around the RMYaoi ML for a little too long? :B 

And for the record, I don't like this chapter. It's blecky and a bit on the short side. 


	9. Chapter 09

  
  
All characters belong to Capcom. Asaki Kai and Blind belong to me. I'm not making money off of this. It's for entertainment only. Dedicated to the few who know me and are *not* disgusted with the male/male inserts. Now, have yourself a nice day. ^^ 

* * *

**Chapter 9**

  
  
"Whee. Back in Nasagi and its haunted houses," was Zero's dry response to the sight of the vacated building. Both X and Zero were battle prepped, in dire hopes of another encounter with the reploid Blind; it was one encounter Zero wasn't looking foward to. 

X nodded. "But this time, we're better equipped for its ghouls and goblins." 

The door, like last time, wasn't locked. The main overhead light had been left on and the interior wasn't as foggy looking like last time. There was an opening on the far wall, the camouflaged door slowly drifting open wider, like someone had gone through it and hadn't closed it properly. The two Hunters exchanged inquisitive glances. That hadn't been there before.. 

Beyond the door was a steep stairwell, no light reaching past about four steps. Zero made a grand sweeping gesture. "After you, Yakasa." 

X only rolled his eyes. "Scared cat." But he went down anyway, igniting the flare-like torch he brought along. Zero was right behind him. 

After a seemingly endless trip downward, X touched down on a solid platform, but the room was no less illuminated than the stairway. Except for the other end of the room. The corners and walls were lined with all sorts of small lights and dimly lit monitors, one corner seeming to be alive with electrical activity... and even through the dencity of the dark, you could tell whatever was over there was massive. But beside it, as stated before, was the only real light. It was low, but enough to work by. And in it, sitting at the single chair within, was the second man in question. 

Dr. Asaki Kai. 

"Asaki-san!" 

As the scientist turned around, the reploids carefully erased most of the distance between them. But they stopped when they reached the edge of the light... X recoiled. They could see Asaki's death wish in his eyes, the slouch his thinned body had, the translucent pallor of his skin. But he had a small smile on his face, a genuine one. "So, I finally get to meet the two Hunters I've heard so much about. It's an honor, really it is." 

Now that was puzzling. You'd think that an evil mastermind with the power to control time would be ranting and raving about having his plans foiled. This... was like handing out tea and crumpets. 

"Um.. excuse me, sir," said X, thoroughly baffled. "You /are/ Dr. Asaki, right?" 

The human nodded. "Yes, I am." 

"The man obsessed with time travel?" 

"The very same." 

Zero sighed, irritated, and pulled X aside to try his hand at this. And with an over-exagerated expression, he leered, "What're your evil schemes for this device?" 

All X did was hide his face. "Oh, Zero.." he whispered. "Grow up." 

Asaki shook his head. "I have no schemes for my machine. It was done to prove to everyone that they were wrong and that time travel is possible." 

X looked up and shushed Zero before he could embarrass himself by acting like some American investigator. "Then why did you bring the bioroids here?" 

"That was /my/ doing." 

X and Zero whipped around, but couldn't see the source of the voice. However, it wasn't hard to guess who it belonged to. 

"Show yourself, Blind!" 

"Certainly. Doctor, kindly cover your eyes." 

With a snap of Blind's fingers, the room was flooded with the same dim light. The red and blue reploids squinted at their optics undilated, but Asaki quietly whimpered in pain behind them. 

And there was Blind, the same as last time, but with a not too promising attachment beside him. Zero growled. "Vile." 

"Oh, so you've met?" Blind's voice was covercoated in sweetness, but there was mockery between the lines. "Well then, no need for introductions." 

X grimaced as he looked between the red-with-rage Zero and the troublesome duo. Something didn't add up here. 

Asaki was /nice/. Blind (who was first thought to be cynical and sadistic) could be /polite/, if not a little sarcastic. Vile was apart of the whole plot, which no sense whatsoever. And /Blind/ was the one that pulled the bioroids to this time. No, no. Nothing made sense. There had to be missing pieces to the Grand Scheme puzzle. 

So, he halted Zero before he could perform a tranditional Ranting Baffoon attack and gazed harshly between the purple Maverick and the jagged rogue. "I want answers. What could be possibly achieved by all this. Chipping Blues' files, bringing them here in the first place. They could /have/ died here-- they still could!-- and what would history become then?! Tell me!" 

Blind bowed his head with a little smirk, looking off to the side like it was a joke and he was trying to hide his laughter. He brought up a black-gloved finger and rocked it back and forth. "Sore wa himitsu desu*, Yakasa-sama. Judgement hasn't been proclaimed by the jury yet. Until then, the verdict is still unknown. But once the sentence is passed, you'll know the conviction." 

A bewildered 'huh?' came from a very disturbed Zero, who took a moment to lean closer to X and, with a hand infront of his mouth and suspicion-laddened eyes, said, "You get the feeling they're missing a few screws in their modems?" 

X nodded, dilated eyes the size of beads from the puzzle pieces in his mind scattering about the shallows of his circuitry. _Can't we ever run into anyone /sane/?!_

And it didn't help any when, with Vile holding his ground, Blind walked up and brushed past the two Hunters without even a word. It doesn't need to be mentioned that Zero was all the more ready to cut Blind's hand of should one stray too far to either of them as the reploid approached. 

Yet, it does need to be mentioned that no such action was made and Zero was most disappointed. He just wanted an excuse to /hurt/ Blind. 

"Kai." The old man's face was blank as Blind, out of respect, dropped down onto one knee, bowing his head like a knight before his king. He spoke softly, so different. "It's over, like I promised." 

"I'm glad..." His own voice had changed. It sounded as if a millennia had passed, brittle and ancient. 

X's heart wrenched. These two couldn't be the ones they were after. They couldn't be.... _Ah, my head hurts._

"It's seemed like more than the allotted time has past, my friend." He chuckled dryly and took his eyes away from his servant, smiling sadly up at the reploids beyond his own. "I have spent most of my life in a machine, although if you were to ask my colleagues, they would be confused. 

"I once had a family. Children, a loving wife. My dear Mikato, she was the essence I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. But God took her. They stole her precious soul in one of the very early Maverick attacks and placed her among the choir of angels in all their splendor. 

"And I was left with my two children. So hard to watch them like she did, with my job and all. I struggled to keep them within my custody, and the fight was hard. But in the end, I kept my young ones. 

"The disease struck them first. Poor, frail Kakito fell first to a terrible fever and was dead within the month. Hiza was gone soon after, but he smiled for me in his last moments. And the same disease attacked me soon after. 

"The doctors in the hospital new what was wrong then. An agent discharged from reploid weaponry in the air had triggered an allergic reaction in our bloodstreams; you may or may not have heard of the Colindosa syndrome. My two boys were like sacrifices for information from the gods and because of them, my life could be saved. 

"My blood was replaced with circuitry and electric pulses that stimulate my heart to keep it beating... but that system is nearly deteriorated and my death is inevitable. 

"I built this machine, with Blind's assistance, in honor of my family. Now that it's complete, I can pass on." Asaki looked down at his withering hands. "But I will not see my wife, nor my children. I'm coated in the blood of damnation and will ultimately go to hell. And that's fine for me. It's one thing to be a world apart... it's more painful to be an existance apart. The Asaki name will stop here and to the person who picks it up.. well, I'll pity that poor fool. He'll be destined to ruin." 

His hand reached out to Blind and the red reploid caught it with his own, placing the cracking skinned hand against his cheek, Asaki's fingertips touching the soft material of the bright blindfold. "Judgement will go on. I know the answer, for I know the legend of the falling skies. ....Blind, take care of her and the others for me, if you will." 

"Always, doctor." 

Behind them, X was trying to dry his eyes on his armored arm... and not getting very far. Zero was sobbing like a sissy, creating a growing puddle of salt water at his feet. 

Further back, Vile was making the weirdest noises, like a cross between whiny sniffles, garbled laughter, and lots of choking. Needless to say, he also had a puddle at his feet, tears soaking his one red eye, and was holding a kleenex beneath his bucket to catch said tears. 

You just have to wonder about that guy. 

But the moment was over and Blind stood up and, still holding Asaki's hand, switched off the life support embedded into the console; the hard flick rattled the walls like the echo of a gunshot. 

_Mikato... Wait for me._

And all that remained of Asaki Kai was his inanimate body.. and his smile. 

"Sayonara, toshiyori no tomodachi**." 

* * *

"There's no way to remove it without disrupting the trigger to the sonic amplifier. And messing with that will cause his whole mechanical larynx to collapse." Cain gave a heavy breath and dabbed a hankerchief across his brow. Alia had thankfully provided him a wooden cane to lean on, as he was still shaken up from the vocal assault. "And if that happens, he won't be able to speak until it's replaced, which it can't be. While it's more advanced than yours, it's ancient compared to ours." 

On the counter across from the doctor, the med table, and his brother, Rock just shook his head mournfully. Everything was just going so wrong. _Blues would know what to do._ An empty smile twisted his lips. _How ironic. He's right here in front of me..._

Off into the corner of the room, shrouded in shadows, Forte sulked, a cross between seethingly enraged and miserably depressed. Gospel lay at his feet, thankfully unharmed by the sonic blast. It was a mild comfort, knowing that the one creature in the whole world that gave a shit about you was by your side. But even a companion can't soothe all the pain away. 

_I nearly kissed Rock._

Oh, if only a simple phrase could disappear, along with the blurry memory it came clipped to like a note on a picture. He had made a mistake and it was tearing him apart. It was one thing to actually kiss someone, a polar opposite to never do so, but being stuck in the middle, teetering on the edge of the road was impossible. 

And now, all he could do was curl up and glare at the Blue Bomber's profile with excessive loathing. For Rock, for his brother, for himself. 

So many could take the blame. Blues, for having that stupid internal whistle. Blind and Asaki, for inserting that stupid case file. Cain, for tampering with said stupid case file. All of those obstacles had stopped him from finding out once and for all if Rock was interested in him beyond the 'we are not enemies' routine. 

_And of course, Murphy's Law*** just /had/ to fucking occur. It couldn't wait another second or 60. It just /had/ to be then!_

And now, Rock knew... Knew about his wishes, his hopes, his biggest kept secret --yes, he's aware Blues knew; there's nothing you can't get past him. Not even a cookie crumb-- and the world just seemed to do everything in it's power to make him suffer the humility of releasing that information upon Rock. 

The one nail biting tidbit was that Rock acted like it never happened... or would have happened. Or-- whatever! 

As blood-dry violet eyes continued to glower, the emergency lights flickered on as red alert sirens blared across the compound, knocking them all out of their current states of thought. 

"Doc.. Dr. Cain? What's going on??" 

The hankerchief swept faster over Cain's furrowed forehead. "Maverick attack." 

"WHAT?!" was the two responses he received. 

"No time to ask questions. We need to move. Now." 

* * *

There was a painful silence as the reploids paid a quick respect to the deceased scientist, before Blind interrupted it with smooth metal sliding against the floor as he turned around, his lips tightly pursed together. "Time is coming short, Hunters. The finale is today, and tomorrow will be the grand start of a new age. Can you handle it or will you no longer function?" 

"See, there you go again with the weird mumbo jumbo. Speak without the toothsaying!" 

As Blind cracked a grin and Vile fell over laughing, X leaned up to whisper, "Ne, Zero... That's /soothsaying/." 

"Eh?" Zero blinked down at him. "Are you sure?" 

A eyebrow rose. "Would Vile be laughing his head off if it was?" 

".....Point dully noted." 

"Gentlemen!" barked the jagged reploid, back to his icy demeanor. "The countdown begins. Time to run along home now, Hunters. Momma hen's calling back her bravest chicks." 

And with timed perfection, both Vile and Blind were gone. 

Zero and X exchanged apprehensive expressions before dashing out of the lower levels by stairway and out the front door. Past the barrier that prevented most electronic signals to bypass, both of their commlinks were going wild with static. Over the fuzziness was Alia's voice frantic and desperate. 

"**--by half and request imidiate return by all field agents! Attention, all Maverick Hunters who have not reported back to base, we have a class S emergency! I repeat, class S! Mavericks have overwhelmed the defenses of HQ and are demolishing everything in their path! Our forces have been reduced by half and request imidiate return by all field agents! Attention--**" 

"Oh mother of all Saints..." 

"...It's a massacre." X's arm dropped to his side, dead weight. New pieces of the puzzle were slowly unshadowing and he began to piece the original ones back together. "....Sigma's going to be there." 

Zero looked in the general direction of the base and growled. "The bastard would be." 

_"Time is coming short, Hunters. The finale is today, and tomorrow will be the grand start of a new age. Can you handle it or will you no longer function?"_

Part of the picture formed and X's eyes widened, nearly choking on air that refused to leave his lungs. "Sigma /is/ there..." 

"Wha... Yakasa, how do you--" 

"What Blind said!" X grabbed at Zero's arms, an enlightened madness in his emerald eyes. "'The finale is today'! The war ends today!" 

Zero cocked his head back with a distinct expression that screamed, 'Now you lost it.' 

"Listen!" His grip tightened and Zero stiffened, feeling those fingers beginning to crack through the shell of his underarmor. "This will be the battle that decides everything! If we die, Sigma wins and tomorrow, the world will be his! If we win, Sigma is gone for good and we can begin to make everything right again!" 

"....." The Crimson Hunter held his tongue, keeping the numerous replies under wraps. Blind was obviously affecting X somehow and Zero didn't like it. Not one bit. So out of all his sharp, cutting, and harsh answers, he picked the one that would cause no complications and keep the rogue off of Yakasa's mind. "X, the bioroids. We need to make sure they're alright first." 

The insanity was gone and X blinked repeated, hearing his joints creak as he removed his hands from Zero. "You're right.... Let's go." 

* * *

Cries of the slaughter rose above the battlefield, christen the ears of a dark lord of power. Sigma watched as reploids and humans were torn apart, whether Hunter or Maverick. It mattered not, after all. 

The book was maxed out in the questions department for the next few hours, but those few hours would fly by like minutes, so long as he enjoyed its solid weight under his arm and the boiling anguish thirty feet below him. 

_Blood. Sorrow. Doom. These are the ingredients choosen to make the perfect world._

"Nice view, wouldn't you say, Epsilon? A full picture of your glorious victory over the Hunters." 

"Too bad it won't last as long as you would like it to." 

Sigma stiffened considerably, recognizing one of the voices instantly... and the other knew his prototype name. "I beg to differ, Vile." He spun around, cape flaring. "It will last, because traitors always get what they deserve in the end." 

His ex-second in command and the rogue gave each other bare glances and then looked back. It was like a silent agreement as Vile out-stretched his arms in front of him, fingers cupped, but no limbs or digits touching. A light glow was starting to form. 

"I'm sorry, 'sir', but don't underestimate the way of Fate. I've worked with her for longer than you've existed, for longer than there has been civilization on this planet. I've been her pawn and she's finally given me the break I've craved. My band is gone, my home destroyed, and all I have is memories... and the ones I love. She won't disppoint me now, at this moment." And the light flared, reacting to the scream of it's name. 

* * *

"Sore wa himitsu desu.": The trademake saying of Xellos from The Slayers. It means, "That/It's a secret." 

"Sayonara, toshiyori no tomodachi.": Literally, it means, "Goodbye, elderly friend." In my sense, it's 'old' instead of 'elderly'. ^_^ Live with me and my bad japanese. 

Murphy's Law = "If anything can go wrong, it will." 

And thus, the plot thickens as I turn your brain to mush while you try to figure out my devious plan. Mwaha! XD 

* * *

**has been screaming over his blondeness getting his own game, knowing this would happen and X better kick his royally retarded ass** 

Blues: Now is this really any way to be spending your birthday? Ranting and raving? 

.... o_o You are absolutely right, Boo. ^_^ Get me my granny rocker! I'm old! 

Blues: ¬_¬ You're not even 20 yet. How can you be old? 

XD Give me another year and I /will/ be 20. .... @.@ *falls over* ;.; *cries* I don't wanna get older! 

Moral of this little thing: ^_^ 1/31, my bifday! I'm 19! *plops on the granny-grey curly wig* Where's mah prune juice?! 

  
We're slowly beginning to wrap this up,  
folks. Enjoy it while you can. *grin* 


	10. Chapter 10

  
  
All characters belong to Caqcom. A sake Kal and Brain belong to me. I'm not making yen off of this. It's for entertainment only. Dedicated to the few who love me and are *not* disgusted with the female/female inserts. Now, have yourself an ice day. ^^ 

* * *

**Chapter 10**

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
And they all lived happily ever after....until they died from cancer, caused by overexposure to Cain's old man fumes. 

^_^ The end. 

  
  
  
April Fools. *RUN!!!* 

I'm sor~ry!


	11. Chapter Holy God What Did She Do Now?

..Yeah right. I haven't updated this work in a year, so why in the world would it be exactly one year since my grande finale for it?

:3 I thought the joke was quite cute.

However, this is more important! There are three new chapters out there, of this nature, maybe four in the near future. It's technically this fic, except revamped, reworked, and redesigned.

And it's here: http : // www . fanfiction . net / read . php ? storyid = 813854

So how 'bout a little feedback on it, ya? I work so, so hard for you blokes... *sniff sniff* and you don't even care! *wails a waterfall*

I mean, here I am, a 56 year old man with three heart diseases and a missing leg from Vietnam, writing man/man interactions for a bunch of horny teenagers/young adults and they don't even pay the kind respects a senior deserves.

And while the above description of me is false, the message is true. **GO READ FIRST ACT: TIME SHIFTER** right now **BEFORE I BLOW UP!** ^_^ I mean, you don't even have to leave a review, but I think they'd be much appreciated. Thank you for your 1.97 minutes of your time.

Oh, and merry April 1st. *wicked cackling* Mwehehehahahahahahaa...

  


  
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